ISSUES THEN AND NOW

Transportation and Jobs

  • While transportation itself does not reflect great racial inequality, the location of new jobs has a negative impact on Chicago’s minority populations. Over the past decades Chicago has seen a net loss in jobs as most of the new entry level positions are being created in the suburbs and are more difficult access. This spatial disparity in economic opportunity and residence perpetuates inequalities among different racial groups.
  • Access to public transportation is uniform across the Chicago area. However, African Americans are less likely to own cars that Caucasians, Asian Americans and Latinos, making them more dependent on public transportation.
  • Commute times have increased for all groups but the predominantly African American and Latino communities of Burnham, Dolton and Riverdale all experienced an increase of seven or more minutes in their average commute between 1990 and 2000 compared to the three-minute average increase in the region.*
  • Safety also plays a key role - 59% of African Americans and 68% of Latinos say that they would take public transport more often if they felt it was safer, compared to only the 35% of Caucasians who reported that crime influences their transportation decisions.^
  • African Americans are still disadvantaged in the Chicago job market.
  • Black households are disproportionately over-represented in the lowest income categories and under-represented in the highest income categories.
  • African Americans comprise less than 5% of officers and directors of local large companies.
  • In 2003, less than half of the city’s adult African American population was attached to the labor market.+
  • Overall unemployment has fallen over the past decade, but the racial gap remains, with the unemployment rate for people of color being 11.5% compared to 3.3% for Caucasians (as of 2003).*
  • There is also a difference in quality of employment. Suburban employers pay into pension plans other than social security for 75% of suburban Caucasians compared to 58% of Chicago Latinos. Suburban employers are also considerably more likely to pay for training programs and provide health insurance.
  • “ These disparities have interrelated and compounding effects, positive or negative” (p. 14) and it is important to note the importance of job creation and transportation in the maintenance of de facto segregation and the inequality of opportunity.^

 
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In collaboration with the Center for Urban Research and Learning, Loyola University Chicago