Mothers and Transportation

African Americans in Pittsburgh have the second lowest auto access rates (51.4%) of any major US city.  Michael Sherraden's "Theory of Welfare Based on Assets", John Kain's "Spatial Mismatch Theory", and role conflict literature informed the current mixed methods transportation advantage study of Pittsburgh's low-income single mothers in the labor force. Working mother's mobility in general and auto ownership in particular, was the subject of the study testing the following hypothesis. Transportation advantage experienced by low-income mothers is associated with reduced role strain, and therefore, more positive employment outcomes, greater asset accumulation, as well as a higher likelihood of pursuing educational opportunities to increase human capital. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected though one on one interviews with 62 single, predominately African American mothers in the labor force, with incomes below 200% of the U.S. poverty threshold.

The transportation advantage measure, which scores access to excellent public transportation equal to access to a reliable vehicle, was significantly associated with employment outcomes and asset accumulation after controlling for education, years work experience and presence of preschoolers in a multiple regression analysis. However, when controlling for vehicle ownership, vehicle ownership exceeded education and work experience in its impact on wages, positive employment characteristics, and asset accumulation; and transportation advantage ceased to significantly impact wages and positive employment characteristics. Role strain did not mediate the impact of transportation advantage on any dependent variables in the model.

This study replicates recent research that links vehicles to improved employment outcomes. However, the new findings suggest that the returns on a vehicle investment can rival that of an investment in human capital. In addition, the measure of positive employment characteristics, unique to this study, adds insight into the improved quality of the jobs obtained by women with vehicles, beyond simply their improved wages.