Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Longest Commute: The Geography Of Poverty, Employment, And Services, Matthew F. Reidy

New England Journal of Public Policy

The average American commuter, alone in an automobile, has a twenty-five-minute ride to work, a not unpleasant, usually overlooked part of the workday. But for millions of low-income people trying to establish themselves in the workforce, getting to work can be a major hurdle because their jobless neighborhoods are not well connected to areas where jobs are plentiful. Theirs is the longest commute. This is not a new problem. The decades-long decline of inner cities and the public transportation system are fairly well-documented phenomena. The time limits instituted as part of the 1996 welfare reform legislation bring a new immediacy …