Is the mixed use city of short distances equally shorter for everybody? Evidence from the universe of Czech commuters

Neighbourhoods with mixed land uses have been shown to bring multiple desirable outcomes including reduction in commuting distance, but there is little evidence how effects vary by residents’ characteristics. This paper studies workers’ commuting behaviour by their skill level, and by place of residence depending on its local provision of jobs. I present a simple model which predicts that high-skilled workers are less likely to find a job locally, and instead more likely to commute longer. I study data from the Czech Republic and show that more functionally mixed neighbourhoods on average shorten commuting distances, but this effect is on average by 20% smaller for high-skilled workers when compared to low-skilled. The effect is predominantly driven by neighbourhoods surrounding inner cores of the two biggest cities where the effect for high-skilled is up to 75% smaller compared to low-skilled. Strategy of mixing land uses in the big cities to make jobs more accessible could be thus more successful if it targets low-skilled jobs.