Milwaukee-Waukesha tops in geographic mismatch between blacks, job
And expanded freeways would help, right?

Feb. 21, 2005 -- The Milwaukee-Waukesha area has greatest geographic mismatch between blacks and job opportunities in the the country, according to a new study.

The Milwaukee-Waukesha area has a black-job spatial mismatch of 72.4%, followed by Detroit, 71.4%; Fort Wayne, Indiana, 70.9%; and the New York City area, 70.3%, according to the study's mismatch index.

The job mismatch index is closely related to job sprawl, created as employment moves out from the central business district, the study said.

The findings, author Michael Stoll said, suggest "that efforts aimed at limiting the degree of job sprawl could potentially improve blacks’ spatial access to employment...These efforts could include regional coordination that may, for example, forge the development of urban growth boundaries, protect open space, or target investment and economic development in established neighborhoods near the urban core."

Sprawl matters when it comes to connecting people with work, Stoll wrote.

"There is a large and established literature on why and how space matters in employment," he said. "It establishes that time and money costs of travel and information limit the distances workers are willing or able to commute to get to work, especially for those workers that are low-skill or young."

To read the entire study, "Job Sprawl and the Spatial Mismatch between Blacks and Jobs," click here.