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Neighbourhood Effects, Housing Tenure and Individual Employment Outcomes

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Book cover Neighbourhood Effects Research: New Perspectives

Abstract

There are a number of serious shortcomings in much of the existing neighbourhood effects literature, most notably selection bias. As a result, many existing studies are likely to show correlations between individual outcomes and neighbourhood characteristics, instead of real causal effects. The empirical section of this chapter investigates whether the level of unemployment in a neighbourhood is related to the employment outcomes of residents. The study uses data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS) and estimates the probability that an unemployed person in 1991 has a job in 2001, and the probability than an employed person in 1991 remains in employment by 2001. The models clearly show a correlation between neighbourhood characteristics and individual employment outcomes. However, separate models by housing tenure show that these correlations are significant only for homeowners, and not for social renters. It is argued that this can be explained by selection bias for homeowners, which was largely absent for social renters. The main conclusion of the chapter is that (self-) selection should be more fully explored in studies of neighbourhood effects. Wherever possible, models investigating the impact of neighbourhood contexts on individual outcomes should take into account the different routes through which households enter neighbourhoods.

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Acknowledgments

The help provided by staff of the Longitudinal Studies Centre–Scotland (LSCS) is acknowledged. The LSCS is supported by the ESRC/JISC, the Scottish Funding Council, the Chief Scientist’s Office and the Scottish Executive. The authors alone are responsible for the interpretation of the data. Census output is Crown copyright and is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Housing Research, School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK

    David Manley

  2. OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Maarten van Ham

Authors
  1. David Manley
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  2. Maarten van Ham
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Correspondence to David Manley .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

    Maarten van Ham

  2. , Centre for Housing Research, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 9AL, Fife, United Kingdom

    David Manley

  3. , Urban Studies, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8RS, United Kingdom

    Nick Bailey

  4. , The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and S, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom

    Ludi Simpson

  5. , Centre for Housing Research, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 9AL, Fife, United Kingdom

    Duncan Maclennan

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Manley, D., van Ham, M. (2012). Neighbourhood Effects, Housing Tenure and Individual Employment Outcomes. In: van Ham, M., Manley, D., Bailey, N., Simpson, L., Maclennan, D. (eds) Neighbourhood Effects Research: New Perspectives. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2309-2_7

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