Title | Getting to Work: Public Transit and Poverty in America's Cities | ||||||||||||||
Overview | In major U.S. cities today, there seems to be a fundamental mismatch between poor workers and the low-skilled jobs that they are qualified to hold. In general, low-skilled jobs are spread along the urban fringe while low-skilled workers tend to be concentrated in inner-city areas. Although there are many reasons why the urban poor remain poor, one of them could be that prospective low-skilled workers are not able to commute to the places where jobs are located. The availability of adequate public transit options might determine whether a poor inner-city worker holds a job or not. | ||||||||||||||
Research Question | What effect does the presence or lack of viable public transit options have on urban poverty ? | ||||||||||||||
Hypothesis | Metropolitan areas with poor public transit infrastructure have higher rates of poverty. |
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Unit of Analysis | Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) | ||||||||||||||
Data Required | We need Census data for the MSAs in our study, including data on poverty level, job concentration, means of transportation, and miles traveled. We will also need land area and extent of public transportation networks based on miles of bus and rail, perhaps number of stations/stops, etc. | ||||||||||||||
Methodology |
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Anticipated Results | We anticipate that the extent of public transit networks will indeed have an effect on poverty level. We expect there to be an inverse correlation between the two. | ||||||||||||||
References | US Census Bureau Wilson, William Julius. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. |