Too Far From Jobs: Spatial Mismatch and Hourly Workers

In expensive cities, employers often have a hard time finding people to fill things like service jobs, as low-wage workers move further away from expensive city centers. This phenomenon is known to economists as “spatial mismatch.” In February 2019, researchers at the Urban Institute used data from online job marketplace Snag to analyze the distance between hourly job seekers with high school diplomas in low-wage industries and the jobs they applied for in 2017. When Snag employers have a significant shortage of job seekers “within a reasonable distance of their jobs” those areas are highlighted in dark pink. Very few areas had an oversupply of job seekers and an undersupply of job postings; those areas are highlighted in gold.