Where Youth Live: Economic Effects of Urban Space on Employment Prospects

Summary. This paper syn thesises a series of empirical analyses investigat ing the role of urban space in affectin g minority employm ent outcomes. It broadens the focus beyond transport and the `frictio n of space ’ and expands the data availab le for spatial research. The empirical analyses share a common framework linking `access ’ to youth labour market perform ance. The ® rst set of results is based on aggrega te data relating access to employment outcomes for black youth at the metrop olitan level. Access is broadly de ® ned to include trad itional measures of geographical distan ce, as well as measures of social isolatio n or social access. Metropolitan areas in which the black poor are more spatially isolated are also found to have higher black youth unemploym ent rates. The second body of evidence relies on the same type of metrop olitan measures, combined with individual data on youth living with at least one parent. When individual and family characteri stics are controlled for, and white and Hispanic youth are also considered, metropoli-tan measures of social access exert distinguishable effects upon youth employmentÐ youth living in urban areas in which they have less residential contact with whites or the non-poor are less likely to be employed. The ® nal piece of analysis links the individual record s of such you th to tract-level measures of access, both social (neighbourhood composition variab les) and geogra