{"id":{"repo_id":"buffalo","oai_identifier":"oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/80630"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/buffalo/oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/80630","repository":{"repo_id":"buffalo","name":"Buffalo","base_url":"https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"An Analysis of Commuting Patterns of Low-Wage Workers in A Declining City","abstract":"Ph.D.","abstract_html":"Ph.D.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ding, Nan; 0000-0002-2249-4238"],"institution":"State University of New York at Buffalo","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha","Geography"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-10-28T20:23:48Z","date_published":"2019-10-28T20:23:48Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:23Z","subjects":["geography","geographic information science and geodesy"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10477/80630","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha","Geography"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ding, Nan; 0000-0002-2249-4238"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2019-10-28T20:23:48Z","2019","2019-08-08 00:57:01"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["State University of New York at Buffalo"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text","Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["geography","geographic information science and geodesy"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/80630"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Ph.D.","Commuting is an essential activity for a large group of the U.S. population, and commuting flow is a fundamental component of both inter-regional and intra-regional spatial interactions. Numerous studies have been conducted to analyze commuting flows to understand job market structure, jobs-housing distribution, and job accessibility. Existing studies on local labor markets have focused on self-containment rather than the internal cohesiveness of the delineated areas. Local labor market delineation for subgroups of workers is limited. Monotonic distance decay function has been applied to most of the existing studies on commuting and job accessibility without considering that varying commuting threshold of workers. Commuting distance may become a factor of people’s job choice only beyond a certain threshold, and within the threshold, the needed commuting distance is often equally acceptable. Thus, the commuting willingness of workers is a piece-wise function with a turning point when commuting willingness starts to decline. Also, most of the research utilize aggregated data at relatively large geographic units. In this study, the job market for low-wage workers in declining cities is examined by asking three main questions: where are the local labor markets for different groups of workers in a declining city? Do workers have different commuting willingness? Do low-wage workers in the city have lower job accessibility than those residing in the suburbs? To address the gaps in the literature, SaTScan cluster analysis is used to delineate local labor markets to ensure internal cohesiveness. Then, the study undertakes a piecewise non-linear curve fitting to quantify commuting threshold, and apply the commuting threshold to the calculation of job accessibility for subgroups of workers. The study area is Buffalo, New York. And the data source of this study is the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) dataset produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Results show that local labor markets, commuting threshold, and job accessibility vary by wage level, worker’s age, and industry sector. Low-wage workers tend to live in the city, and the low-wage residents tend to work in the city. Low-wage workers in the city have lower commuting threshold than low-wage workers in the suburban areas—this restricts the job search range for city residents. This study suggests that SaTScan can be an alternative to the traditional arbitrary self-containment constraint. Future studies on commuting behavior and job accessibility should consider commuting thresholds. The need for creating entry-level jobs in the city and nearby suburbs, transportation, and networking assistance to transition low-wage jobs seekers to their suitable jobs are some of the policy recommendations."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An Analysis of Commuting Patterns of Low-Wage Workers in A Declining City"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha","Geography"],"dc:creator":["Ding, Nan; 0000-0002-2249-4238"],"dc:date":["2019-10-28T20:23:48Z","2019","2019-08-08 00:57:01"],"dc:description":["Ph.D.","Commuting is an essential activity for a large group of the U.S. population, and commuting flow is a fundamental component of both inter-regional and intra-regional spatial interactions. Numerous studies have been conducted to analyze commuting flows to understand job market structure, jobs-housing distribution, and job accessibility. Existing studies on local labor markets have focused on self-containment rather than the internal cohesiveness of the delineated areas. Local labor market delineation for subgroups of workers is limited. Monotonic distance decay function has been applied to most of the existing studies on commuting and job accessibility without considering that varying commuting threshold of workers. Commuting distance may become a factor of people’s job choice only beyond a certain threshold, and within the threshold, the needed commuting distance is often equally acceptable. Thus, the commuting willingness of workers is a piece-wise function with a turning point when commuting willingness starts to decline. Also, most of the research utilize aggregated data at relatively large geographic units. In this study, the job market for low-wage workers in declining cities is examined by asking three main questions: where are the local labor markets for different groups of workers in a declining city? Do workers have different commuting willingness? Do low-wage workers in the city have lower job accessibility than those residing in the suburbs? To address the gaps in the literature, SaTScan cluster analysis is used to delineate local labor markets to ensure internal cohesiveness. Then, the study undertakes a piecewise non-linear curve fitting to quantify commuting threshold, and apply the commuting threshold to the calculation of job accessibility for subgroups of workers. The study area is Buffalo, New York. And the data source of this study is the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) dataset produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Results show that local labor markets, commuting threshold, and job accessibility vary by wage level, worker’s age, and industry sector. Low-wage workers tend to live in the city, and the low-wage residents tend to work in the city. Low-wage workers in the city have lower commuting threshold than low-wage workers in the suburban areas—this restricts the job search range for city residents. This study suggests that SaTScan can be an alternative to the traditional arbitrary self-containment constraint. Future studies on commuting behavior and job accessibility should consider commuting thresholds. The need for creating entry-level jobs in the city and nearby suburbs, transportation, and networking assistance to transition low-wage jobs seekers to their suitable jobs are some of the policy recommendations."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/80630"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["State University of New York at Buffalo"],"dc:rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"dc:subject":["geography","geographic information science and geodesy"],"dc:title":["An Analysis of Commuting Patterns of Low-Wage Workers in A Declining City"],"dc:type":["Text","Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:23Z"}