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David C. Phillips, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics, Hope College

David C. Phillips is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.  His research includes work on migration of skilled health professionals, staffing and compensation in public health systems of developing countries, and the functioning of low-wage labor markets in the United States. 

His research has been published in the Journal of Development Economics.  He has also served as a consultant for the World Bank, Africa Technical Health Unit on projects in Ghana and Liberia.  Dr. Phillips holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Georgetown University where he was awarded the Razin Prize for best dissertation paper in economics.

Post David C. Phillips, Ph.D. Living Closer to Jobs May Improve Prospects for Low-wage Workers Long Commutes or Neighborhood Perceptions: Why Do Employers Avoid Applicants from High-Poverty Neighborhoods?

Small Grants Recipient Published in the Journal of Human Resources
David Phillips, University of Notre Dame

Congratulations to 2013-2014 small grants recipient David Phillips on the publication of his paper in the Journal of Human Resources. His paper, “Do Low-Wage Employers Discriminate Against Applicants with Long Commutes? Evidence from a Correspondence Experiment,” studies how employers respond to low-wage job applicants’ home addresses. 

Policy Brief Sign up for e-news Download Brief on Geographic Discrimination and Jobs David C. Phillips, Ph.D. Read More Policy Briefs

Living Closer to Jobs May Improve Prospects for Low-wage Workers
By David C. Phillips, Hope College

Urban poverty has become more geographically concentrated in recent years.[1] Areas of concentrated poverty are also frequently located relatively far from many job opportunities. If low-wage employers discriminate against applicants from poor or more distant neighborhoods, those applicants and their neighborhoods may face even deeper poverty. In a new study, I find that employers are less likely to respond positively to applicants who list addresses in distant, poor neighborhoods. However, the applicant’s commute distance rather than neighborhood affluence itself is the largest factor.