ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the spatial mismatch hypothesis by comparing the dynamic labor market outcomes of young males’ in the suburbs and central cities. A key prediction is implicit in the spatial mismatch idea. The hypothesis suggests that suburban residents should perform better in the labor market than their central city counterparts, and that this should be particularly true for blacks, and to some extent Latinos, because of the role that housing market discrimination plays in limiting their housing options. Young suburban males’ unemployment rates are lower in the suburbs than in the central cities. It is precisely these findings that make the spatial mismatch hypothesis an attractive explanation of blacks’ and Latinos’ high unemployment in metropolitan areas. The “frequency”, or the number of spells of unemployment per individual during the year, is another dimension of unemployment. The final component of unemployment is its “duration,” or the time that a given spell of unemployment lasts.