Gender, race, and commuting among service sector workers

The generality that women work closer to home and have shorter commuting times than men needs to be assessed for racial groups. Statistical analysis of commuting times for a large sample of service workers in the New Yorkmetropolitan area shows that black and hispanic women commute as far as their male counterparts and theircommuting times far exceed those of white men and women. Workplace factors, such as income, occupation, andjob accessibility, are important in explaining these findings.