The spatial mismatch hypothesis associates high unemployment rates among inner-city blacks with the spatial dispersion of employment to suburban job markets. An alternative explanation for high unemployment is the skills mismatch hypothesis, which argues that skill demands in urban labor markets increase over time, but blacks lag behind other population groups in their job skills and educational attainments. This research suggests that spatial and skills mismatch are interlinked. Logistical regression models are utilized, with 1990 PUMS data, to test the impacts of spatial accessibility on employment of black and white youths between 16 and 25 years of age in three different labor-market segments. The results confirm that a disadvantage for blacks exists as a combination of the two mismatches. Racial job-accessibility differentials appears to be more important in lower labor-market segments but blacks experience a disadvantage both in central-city and in suburban locations.
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