Job opportunities, institutions, and the jobs-housing spatial relationship: Case study of Beijing

In this paper, we use household travel survey data and employment establishment survey data collected in Beijing to empirically investigate the extent to which institutional arrangements influence the jobs-housing spatial relationship, and whether such arrangements interact with local job opportunities in shaping the jobs-housing relationship. Dynamic buffering is used to derive the number of job opportunities within specific distances of each home. We find that, once individuals have the freedom to choose their workplaces or homes, the “relics” of command-and-control housing provision policies no longer have significant influence on commute distances. We also find that more job opportunities close to homes have significant association with shorter commuting distances. This is especially true for individuals who joined the workforce after 1999. The institutional setup and spatial structure of the jobs and population in Beijing can contribute to this trend. Yet the magnitude of this effect from the job opportunities is nevertheless negligible.