Spatial and Non-Spatial Determinants of Black-White Employment Differentials

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This is a study of the impact of changes in the spatial distribution of employment opportunities within urban areas on minority and youth employment outcomes. The central focus of the study is to study the extent to which the mismatch between the location and types of jobs and the location and skills of potential employees helps explain contemporary black/white differences in employment. The study will use data for census tracts in twelve metropolitan areas in the United States. This study is an important addition to the literature on the causes of racial differences in employment rates. The unique contribution of the study is that it develops direct measures of employment potentials for small areas (tracts). This in turn makes it possible to assess empirically whether the so-called spatial mismatch hypothesis is correct. The spatial mismatch hypothesis suggests that the cause of the low employment rates for black men in some metropolitan areas in the United States is that they live in areas where there are no jobs available that match the skills they bring to the labor market.