Spatial Distance Frictions in Centralized Job Search
Physical job vacancy boards and formal hiring centers are heavily concentrated in city cores, imposing high transit costs on peripheral urban youth that reduce search frequency and application rates.
Picture this
Imagine a small-town farmer whose town only has one central market located two hours away—because bus fares consume a quarter of his weekly budget, he visits the market far less often and misses out on selling his produce at higher city prices.
What the evidence says
Living 10 km closer to the city center is associated with visiting central job boards 6.7 more times per year (0.4 SD) and submitting 1.9 more permanent job applications (0.5 SD), with active job-seekers spending a median of 16% (and up to 25%) of total weekly expenditure on search costs.
- Who
- N = 1,542 control job-seekers (aged 18–29, high school educated) residing at least 2.5 km from the city center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- How
- Observational spatial distance analysis and baseline search expenditure tracking across urban geographical clusters.
What to do
Establish decentralized physical or digital vacancy notice boards across urban peripheries to lower transit barriers for remote job-seekers.
From the source
"among individuals in the control group, living 10 km closer to the centre of the city is associated with visiting the job boards 6.7 more times in a year (0.4 of a standard deviation) and making 1.9 more applications to permanent jobs (0.5 of a standard deviation)."
Anonymity or Distance? Job Search and Labour Market Exclusion in a Growing African City