| This dissertation presents an historical overview of the travel restraints on African Americans, females, and low-income people in the US, as well as the transportation policies that fostered these restraints. Subsequently, the study examines modern day restraints on mobility, and its relationship to employment outcomes, defined as earnings and hours employed. Several within subject comparisons and two ANOVAs confirmed the study's hypothesis that after controlling for education, work experience, and a variety of demographic characteristics, the NLSY participants, in the labor force throughout the decade from 1990 to 2000, encountered significantly less favorable employment outcomes when reporting an increased number of years without auto access. The ANOVA found this impact on earnings to be strongest among African Americans and females. The ANOVA on hours employed found this impact to be strongest on African American males, and all females parenting 5 or more years. African American females with the lowest levels of vehicle access reported the highest number of work hours among all black and white females, but nearly the lowest earnings.; Kain's Spatial Mismatch Theory and Sherraden's Theory of Welfare Based on Assets, along with the Work-Family-Fit model provide the theoretical framework for the respective macro and micro influences of transportation disadvantage on earnings and hours employed. |
