Are Jobs Available for Disadvantaged Groups in Urban Areas?

We use data from surveys of employers and households in four metropolitan areas to predict the degree of job availability that faces various groups of disadvantaged workers, such as minorities, high school dropouts, or welfare recipients. We run simulations in which we ìmatchî workers to jobs on the basis of skill, spatial and racial characteristics of each. Our results show that roughly 9-17% of actual or potential jobseekers should have difficulty finding work, even in tight labor markets. Simulated mismatch rates for the disadvantaged groups listed above are considerably higher. Thus, the results suggest that disadvantaged groups face quite limited job availability, at least in the short-run. The wages and benefits on jobs available to these workers are also quite low.