Role of transportation in labour market dynamics for urban poor a case of Ahmedabad

Abstract

This research work is aimed at understanding the interlinkages between the labour market, residential choices and the transport options for the urban poor. This study is focused on the urban poor in Ahmedabad. To capture the residential, employment and transport characteristics for this group, surveys were conducted across 563 slum and EWS households in different parts of the city. To analyse the interrelationships between labour market, housing and transportation, the research adopts an extended labour market form of Human Capital Model. The results of the Extended Human Capital Model suggest that though education and experience variables are significant, returns from them are low and inelastic. The labour market was also found to be segmented in Ahmedabad with formal workers earning almost 2.7 times higher than the informal workers and male workers earning 30% higher than female workers. Segmentation is also visible within the informal sector with casual and self-employed workers earning higher than informal establishment, domestic and casual formal workers; and skilled workers earning 8% higher than the unskilled workers. Residential location was found to influence earning levels of workers. It emerged that workers located in the central areas earn more than the ones in the peripheral areas. It was also seen that the poor workers have a unique travel pattern as a result of varying job locations in the city which constrains them from using public transport and hence reliance on informal modes along with walk and NMT is high. It was also found that the workers who are able to break the barrier posed by the residential and job markets tend to earn higher and generally have higher trip lengths implying that they may have better access to the employment market. The study suggest that investment in labour/ housing sectors independently will not be enough and hence, the government will need to look into integrating policies of different departments like housing, transportation to tackle the issue of poverty.