Commuting barriers to low-wage employment

Scott Abrahams and James Mabli

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2024, vol. 104, issue C

Abstract: Lack of access to affordable transportation has been hypothesized to be a barrier to employment among low-wage workers. We build a structural job search model to investigate how commuting costs influence the employment decisions of low-wage workers in the United States, and whether differences in commuting by race and education can explain observed disparities in employment. We find that commuting itself poses a significant barrier to overall low-wage employment, as the associated costs are high relative to potential wages. However, we find that inter-group differences in commuting costs account for a much smaller fraction of inter-group employment disparities than do differences in other labor market factors such as the wage offer distribution and offer arrival rates.

Keywords: Commuting costs; Employment barriers; Educational and racial disparities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 J6 J7 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:104:y:2024:i:c:s0166046223001059

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2023.103970

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