Who has long commutes to low-wage jobs? Gender, race, and access to work in the New York region

Geographies of home and work have changed as public investment has favored central and distant suburban locations and as income inequality has increased. These changes result in shifting geographies of advantage that (dis)benefit gender and racial/ethnic groups unevenly. We examine commuting differentials by gender and race/ethnicity based on combinations of wages and commute times using data for the New York region.We find that Black, Asian, and Hispanic women and men are concentrated in jobs that have long commutes and low-wages, and Black and Hispanic workers’ concentrations increased from 2000–2010.Although Asian men and women remain overrepresented in that category, their share decreased in the 2000's.The urban core has become a region of heightened advantage, as White men, and an increasing share of White women, commute short times to well-paid jobs. Disadvantage has expanded for Black and Latina women whose long commutes are not compensated by well-paid employment.