Real Esate & Planning Research Seminar by Dr Andreas Mense, from the Institute for Employment Research in Nuremberg (IAB). Title "Access to the City Centre and Labour Market Outcomes"

Abstract:

Living closer to the centre of a city improves individuals to access to jobs. We investigate whether low-income individuals benefit from better access by exploiting the arguably random allocation of applicants to affordable housing buildings by the local housing authorities in Bavaria, Germany. Although access to the city centre reduces unemployment hazards and increases employment days among workers without a degree, it does not affect their total labour income. Among workers with a vocational degree, the effect on unemployment hazards is weaker, but income is marginally positively affected. We provide evidence that these patterns are likely explained by the types of central-city jobs taken up in each group. Whereas workers without a degree tend to switch from routine-manual to non-routine manual jobs when moving closer to downtown, workers who previously had obtained a degree switch from routine-manual to routine-cognitive jobs. Overall, this suggests that improved access to the city centre has ambiguous effects on unskilled workers’ labour market success.

Bio:

Andreas studied political science (a 5-year program, equivalent to bachelor + master) and math (B.Sc.) at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and then went on to earn a Ph.D. at the economics department of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In 2016, He joined the economics department as a post-doc. In 2019, he also spent some time at the London School of Economics as a visiting researcher. Since 2021, he worked at the Institute for Employment Research in Nuremberg (IAB), which is the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency of Germany. In his research, he studies housing policies, the role of housing supply for housing affordability, and the interplay between local housing and labour markets.