CityLab Daily: Workers and Jobs Are Too Far Apart
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What We’re Following
Help wanted: What happens when workers and job openings are too far apart? Many U.S. cities are finding that out right now, experiencing a mismatch between job postings and job seekers, according to a new report from the Urban Institute. The imbalance is most pronounced in the Bay Area, where jobs cluster in the more affluent parts of the region, putting large distances between work and home for lower-wage workers.
The same mismatch exists in Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York. Other cities—like Columbus and Atlanta—suffer in the other direction, where areas have more job seekers than job postings. But it doesn’t have to be this way, researchers say: There are things local governments and companies can do to help address this problem. Today on CityLab, Laura Bliss reports: In Many U.S. Cities, There’s a Big Mismatch Between Jobs and Workers
More on CityLab
Ain’t Got That Swing
The idea that America’s suburbs are the home of moderate swing voters isn’t quite right. A new poll suggests that only 15 percent of suburban voters identified as independents, lower than the rate for rural or urban residents, as shown above. What does make the suburbs politically distinct is a more even split between Democrats and Republicans than in cities or rural areas. Still, place can have a lasting impact on political persuasions: The survey found that Americans who moved from cities into the ’burbs voted much more like their former urban neighbors than their new suburban ones. CityLab data reporter David Montgomery has the story: Why Suburban Swing Voters May Be Less Common Than You Think
What We’re Reading
New York subpoenas Airbnb for home-sharing data (Next City)
After China’s import ban, cities are burning their recyclables (The Guardian)
Miami and Milwaukee are in for a lobbying fight on who hosts the 2020 DNC (Politico)
The complex story of Hulan Jack, the first black “Boss of Manhattan” (New York Times)
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