It's Not Worth the Trip: Urban Structure and Job Formality in Los Angeles, Mexico City, and New York

Although much research has addressed recent changes in metropolitan structure and labor markets, little is understood about how the two are related. This paper examines the relationship between metropolitan structure, as defined by urban rings, and job formality, as measured by employer provided health insurance. Specifically, we compare the relationship among income, travel time, and job formality in Los Angeles, Mexico City, and New York using regression and discriminant analysis. The probability that a worker had health insurance benefits resulted in a statistically significant increase in travel time for workers in every region and in every metropolitan ring. In contrast, the role of education and income in predicting travel time fluctuated by ring and city, and was often insignificant. The discriminant analysis confirmed that the members of groups differentiated by health insurance and spatial location share a distinct set of demographic and travel characteristics. These findings point to several policy implications such as the need to better understand the socio-economic implications of how the transportation infrastructure is used–in particular how it shapes regions and, in turn, how regional structure constrains or enhances citizens’ lives.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Weinberger, Rachel R
  • Suárez, Manuel
  • Chapple, Karen
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 25p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: City planning; Infrastructure; Labor market; Labor relations; Metropolitan areas; Metropolitan planning organizations; Regression analysis; Urban areas; Urban development; Urban transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Transportation infrastructure
• Geographic Terms: Los Angeles (California); Mexico City (Mexico); New York (New York)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01044590
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-1064
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 28 2007 7:14AM