Spatial mismatch

Spatial mismatch is the mismatch between where low-income households reside and suitable job opportunities. In its original formulation (see below) and in subsequent research, it has mostly been understood as a phenomenon affecting African-Americans, as a result of residential segregation, economic restructuring, and the suburbanization of employment.

Spatial mismatch was first proposed by John F. Kain, following the theory of John Meyer, in a seminal 1968 article, "Housing Segregation, Negro Employment, and Metropolitan Decentralization". That article did not specifically use the term "spatial mismatch", and Kain disclaimed credit.

In 1987, William Julius Wilson was an important exponent, elaborating the role of economic restructuring, as well as the departure of the black middle-class, in the development of a ghetto underclass in the United States.