IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v35y1998i1p77-93.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job Access, Commute and Travel Burden among Welfare Recipients

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Ong

    (Department of Urban Planning, School of Public Policy and Social Research, University of California, Los Angeles, USA, pmong@ucla.edu.)

  • Evelyn Blumenberg

    (Department of Urban Planning, School of Public Policy and Social Research, 3250 Public Policy Building, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1656, USA, eblumenb@ucla.edu.)

Abstract

Welfare recipients face a number of obstacles to making the transition from welfare to work. One is their geographical separation from employment opportunities: many welfare recipients live in 'job-poor' neighbourhoods far from employment for which they are qualified. Combining administrative data on welfare recipients and employment in Los Angeles with data from the 1990 decennial census, we show that greater access to local jobs in low-wage firms increases the likelihood that welfare recipients find employment in neighbourhood jobs. Moreover, welfare recipients who have long commutes earn less than those who find work closer to home, contrary to the pattern for most workers. These findings demonstrate that proximity to low-wage jobs benefits welfare recipients through reduced commuting expenses and increased earnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Ong & Evelyn Blumenberg, 1998. "Job Access, Commute and Travel Burden among Welfare Recipients," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(1), pages 77-93, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:35:y:1998:i:1:p:77-93
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098985087
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/0042098985087
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0042098985087?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Goldin, Claudia, 1992. "Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195072709.
    2. Holzer Harry J. & Ihlanfeldt Keith R. & Sjoquist David L., 1994. "Work, Search, and Travel among White and Black Youth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 320-345, May.
    3. Harry J. Holzer, 1991. "The Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis: What Has the Evidence Shown?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 28(1), pages 105-122, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Raphael, Steven & Rice, Lorien, 2002. "Car ownership, employment, and earnings," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 109-130, July.
    2. Xueming (Jimmy) Chen, 2018. "Review of the Transit Accessibility Concept: A Case Study of Richmond, Virginia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Samuel L. Myers & Chanjin Chung & Lisa Saunders, 2001. "Racial Differences in Transportation Access to Employment in Chicago and Los Angeles, 1980 and 1990," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 174-177, May.
    4. Harry J. Holzer & Michael A. Stoll, 2003. "Employer Demand for Welfare Recipients by Race," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 210-241, January.
    5. Jen-Jia Lin & Chi-Hau Chen & Tsung-Yu Hsieh, 2016. "Job accessibility and ethnic minority employment in urban and rural areas in Taiwan," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 363-382, June.
    6. Ong, Paul M., 2002. "Car Access and Welfare-To-Work," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt5002g5gm, University of California Transportation Center.
    7. Gurley, Tami & Bruce, Donald, 2005. "The effects of car access on employment outcomes for welfare recipients," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 250-272, September.
    8. Jessica Holmes & Jonathan Isham & Jessica Wasilewski, 2002. "Overcoming Information Asymmetries in Low-Income Lending: Lessons from the "Working Wheels" Program," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0244, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    9. Hu, Lingqian & Schneider, Robert J., 2017. "Different ways to get to the same workplace: How does workplace location relate to commuting by different income groups?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 106-115.
    10. James X. Sullivan, 2006. "Welfare Reform, Saving, and Vehicle Ownership: Do Asset Limits and Vehicle Exemptions Matter?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(1).
    11. Sylvie Fol & Gabriel Dupuy & Olivier Coutard, 2007. "Transport Policy and the Car Divide in the UK, the US and France: Beyond the Environmental Debate," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 802-818, December.
    12. Golub, Aaron & Martens, Karel, 2014. "Using principles of justice to assess the modal equity of regional transportation plans," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 10-20.
    13. Laurent Gobillon & Harris Selod & Yves Zenou, 2002. "Spatial Mismatch : From the Hypothesis of the Theories," Working Papers 2002-57, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    14. Latreille, Paul L. & Blackaby, David H. & Murphy, Philip D. & O'Leary, Nigel C. & Sloane, Peter J., 2006. "How Far and For How Much? Evidence on Wages and Potential Travel-to-Work Distances from a Survey of the Economically Inactive," IZA Discussion Papers 1976, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Thomas W. Sanchez, 2002. "The Impact of Public Transport on US Metropolitan Wage Inequality," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(3), pages 423-436, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shengyi Gao & Patricia Mokhtarian & Robert Johnston, 2008. "Exploring the connections among job accessibility, employment, income, and auto ownership using structural equation modeling," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 42(2), pages 341-356, June.
    2. Donald Houston, 2005. "Employability, Skills Mismatch and Spatial Mismatch in Metropolitan Labour Markets," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(2), pages 221-243, February.
    3. Cai, Zhengyu & Maguire, Karen & Winters, John V., 2019. "Who benefits from local oil and gas employment? Labor market composition in the oil and gas industry in Texas and the rest of the United States," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Cervero, Robert & Sandoval, Onésimo & Landis, John, 2000. "Transportation as a Stimulus to Welfare-to-Work: Private Versus Public Mobility," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt9q97b1tp, University of California Transportation Center.
    5. Valerie Preston & Sara McLafferty, 1999. "articles: Spatial mismatch research in the 1990s: progress and potential," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 78(4), pages 387-402.
    6. Steven Raphael & Michael A. Stoll, 2000. "Can Boosting Minority Car-Ownership Rates Narrow Inter-Racial Employment Gaps," JCPR Working Papers 200, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    7. William Levernier & Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman, 2000. "The Causes of Regional Variations in U.S. Poverty: A Cross‐County Analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 473-497, August.
    8. Richard W. Martin, 2001. "Spatial Mismatch and Costly Suburban Commutes: Can Commuting Subsidies Help?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(8), pages 1305-1318, July.
    9. Baum, Charles L., 2009. "The effects of vehicle ownership on employment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 151-163, November.
    10. Weinberg, Bruce A., 2000. "Black Residential Centralization and the Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 110-134, July.
    11. Judith K. Hellerstein & David Neumark, 2011. "Employment in Black Urban Labor Markets: Problems and Solutions," NBER Working Papers 16986, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Patacchini, Eleonora & Zenou, Yves, 2005. "Spatial mismatch, transport mode and search decisions in England," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 62-90, July.
    13. Miwa Matsuo & Hiroyuki Iseki, 2020. "Giving up Job Search Because I Don't Have a Car: Labor Market Participation and Employment Status Among Single Mothers With and Without Cars," Discussion Paper Series DP2020-07, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    14. Huiping Li & Harrison Campbell & Steven Fernandez, 2013. "Residential Segregation, Spatial Mismatch and Economic Growth across US Metropolitan Areas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(13), pages 2642-2660, October.
    15. Harry J. Holzer & Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, 1998. "Customer Discrimination and Employment Outcomes for Minority Workers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(3), pages 835-867.
    16. Laurent Gobillon & Harris Selod & Yves Zenou, 2007. "The Mechanisms of Spatial Mismatch," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(12), pages 2401-2427, November.
    17. Rogers, Cynthia L., 1997. "Job Search and Unemployment Duration: Implications for the Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 109-132, July.
    18. Michael A. Stoll & Harry J. Holzer & Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, 2000. "Within cities and suburbs: Racial residential concentration and the spatial distribution of employment opportunities across sub-metropolitan areas," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 207-231.
    19. Stoll, Michael A., 1999. "Spatial Job Search, Spatial Mismatch, and the Employment and Wages of Racial and Ethnic Groups in Los Angeles," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 129-155, July.
    20. Zenou, Yves & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2003. "Mismatch, Transport Mode and Search Decisions in England," CEPR Discussion Papers 3968, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:35:y:1998:i:1:p:77-93. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.