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Transportation as a Stimulus to Welfare-to-Work: Private Versus Public Mobility

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  • Cervero, Robert
  • Sandoval, Onésimo
  • Landis, John

Abstract

Using an unusually rich panel of data on welfare recipients in Alameda County, California, this paper examines the importance of transportation policy variables in explaining the ability of some individuals to find gainful employment. A multinomial logit model is estimated that predicts the probability someone found a job as a function of car ownership, transit service quality, regional job accessibility by different transportation modes, human-capital factors, and various control variables. The results show that car ownership, along with educational attainment, significantly increased the odds that someone switched from welfare to work, while variables related to transit service quality were largely insignificant predictors. Nor was regional accessibility very important in explaining employment outcomes, a finding that sheds doubts about the spatial mismatch hypothesis. In terms of transit policy, what appeared to be most important in stimulating employment was the concentration of housing near bus and rail routes, a finding which lends support to transit-oriented development. However, improved automobility had far stronger effects on employment outcomes than improvements in transit mobility, at least in the case of Alameda County.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt9q97b1tp
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. R Cervero & T Rood & B Appleyard, 1999. "Tracking Accessibility: Employment and Housing Opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 31(7), pages 1259-1278, July.
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    Cited by:

    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. Denton R. Vaughan & Barbara A. Haley & Aref N. Dajani, 2021. "Ten years later: Self‐sufficiency of welfare mothers before the Great Recession," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 184-223, June.

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