Accessible Jobs and Secured Jobs by Mode of Travel and Isochrone: An Exploratory Study of Shanghai, China

Abstract

Job accessibility measures the ease of accessing potential job opportunities from a given locale, such as a traffic analysis zone (TAZ). In principle, improved job accessibility of a locale should lead to better employment outcomes for job seekers residing there. However, the extent to which residents of a locale can secure jobs within its isochrone by a specific mode of travel has rarely been investigated in the existing scholarship. In this article, we define “accessible jobs” as all the jobs within an isochrone of a locale by a specific travel mode, and “secured jobs” as the subset of these accessible jobs that are actually obtained by residents of the locale. Using a high-resolution location-based service data set, we calculate the secured jobs and accessible jobs of different TAZs by the 15-, 30-, and 45-min isochrones by transit or automobile in Shanghai, China. We investigate (a) the spatial patterns of the secured jobs and accessible jobs, and (b) besides the accessible jobs, what can predict the secured jobs, controlling for travel time and mode of travel. We find that the secured jobs vary across the TAZs, mode of travel, and isochrones but are often spatially autocorrelated at the TAZ level. The accessible jobs are always positively related to the secured jobs, regardless of mode of travel and travel time. This relationship is more salient for those workers by transit. The secured jobs could be predicted by a few TAZ- and isochrone-level indicators concerning land use, transport, and socioeconomic attributes. Our findings indicate that (a) accessible jobs should be considered in tandem with secured jobs, controlling for isochrones by mode of travel and travel time, and (b) both transport-land use and socioeconomic attributes at the TAZ and isochrone levels should be accounted for when planning for secured jobs and accessible jobs.