Driving Low-Income Mothers to Greater Success: The Impact of Ride-hailing on Employment and Income

该研究项目将采用新的研究方法，调查向低收入母亲提供补贴或免费交通是否会增加她们的劳动力参与和就业。它通过向选定的一组低收入母亲提供免费或补贴交通，并将她们在劳动力市场的努力和结果与没有获得交通补贴的低收入母亲进行比较来实现这一目标。这项研究将回答两个具体问题：(i)向穷人提供有补贴的网约车服务是否能让他们更好地获得就业、培训和社会服务？（ii）交通补贴是否会提高劳动力参与率，并产生超过成本的收益？美国城市的低技能工人往往集中在远离与其技能相匹配的工作的地区。高昂的交通费用给有孩子的低收入母亲带来了特殊的问题，因为她们有照顾孩子的责任，如果依靠公共交通，她们找工作就会变得困难和昂贵。新技术使得叫车成为可能，比如优步（UBER）和来福车（LYFT）提供的服务，提供了灵活、方便、相对便宜的交通方式，不需要私家车。本研究结果将有助于提高低收入母亲的劳动力市场参与度和就业率，从而提高这些母亲的生活水平。本项目将采用大规模随机对照试验（RCT）对降低低收入母亲的交通成本将增加其劳动力市场参与度和就业率的假设进行实证检验。利用网约车作为一种新的交通选择的出现，pi将为低收入母亲的治疗组提供免费乘车服务，并将就业和其他结果与人口统计学上相等的对照组进行比较。pi将与优步技术合作，并将利用智能手机在穷人中的普及，追踪交通成本降低对就业和工资的影响。GPS技术还将被广泛用于跟踪参与者在寻找和上班途中的移动情况。除了从参与者那里收集的自我报告数据外，ppi还将使用地方政府收集的数据来补充研究工作。这项研究的结果将有助于提高低收入母亲的劳动力市场参与度和就业率，从而提高这些母亲的生活水平。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行了评估，认为值得支持。

This research project will use new research methods to investigate whether providing subsidized or free transportation to low-income mothers will increase their labor force participation and employment. It does so by providing free or subsidized transportation to a selected group of low income mothers and comparing their labor market efforts and outcomes to low income mothers who do not receive transport subsidy. The research will answer two specific questions: (i) will providing subsidized ride-hailing services to the poor enable better access to employment, training, and social services? (ii) will subsidized transportation raise labor force participation and generate benefits that outweigh the costs? Low-skilled workers in urban America are often concentrated in areas that are far from jobs that match their skills. The high cost of transportation poses special problems for low-income mothers with children, given their child care responsibilities making it difficult and costly for them to find jobs if they rely on public transportation. New technology that makes ride-hailing, such as those provided by UBER and LYFT, possible offers flexible, convenient, and relatively inexpensive transportation that does not require private car ownership. The results of this research will help increase labor market participation and employment of low-income mothers, thus improving the living standards of these mothers.This project will empirically test the hypothesis that reducing transportation cost to low income mothers will increase their labor market participation and employment, using a large-scale randomized control trial (RCT). Leveraging the emergence of ride-hailing as a new transportation option, the PIs will provide free rides to the treatment group of low-income mothers and compare employment and other outcomes to a demographically equivalent control group. The PIs will work in partnership with UBER technologies and will exploit the diffusion of smartphones among the poor to track the impact of lower transportation costs on employment and wages. GPS technology will also be extensively used to track the mobility of participants as they travel to search for, and go to work. In addition to self-reported data collected from participants, the PIs will use data collected by local governments to supplement the research efforts. The results of this research will help increase labor market participation and employment of low-income mothers, thus improving the living standards of these mothersThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.