Job accessibility through public transport and unemployment in Latin America: The case of Montevideo (Uruguay)

Accessibility to job opportunities is one of the factors that explains labor outcomes. For developing countries, public transport plays a key role in providing the population with access to employment opportunities. This paper aims to quantify accessibility by public transport to employment in Montevideo, Uruguay and to explore how accessibility to job opportunities via public transport relates to unemployment. To do so, we calculate a cumulative measure of accessibility to job opportunities for 1063 small zones—approximately 4–6 blocks each—within Montevideo. This measure yields accurate data on accessibility and can be assigned to individual households. Accessibility in Montevideo is unevenly distributed among social strata and is concentrated within the central (and wealthier) areas of the city. In addition, a multilevel logistic regression analysis indicates that greater accessibility to jobs via public transport is associated with a lower probability of being unemployed. This finding suggests that improving accessibility to job opportunities via public transit may enhance individual labor outcomes. •Montevideo's accessibility within 40 min travel by public transport is 39.7% of the total available employment.•Accessibility is unequally distributed between social stratums and different areas in the city.•Accessibility to employment is associated to the probability of an individual being unemployed.•Accessibility should be taken into account by decision-makers in the labour policies realm.