Labor Market Effects of Light Rail Transit: A Case Study of Portland’s Orange Max Line
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Date
2023-06
Authors
Molloy, Eli
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This thesis explores the relationship between transit development and job creation through a case study of the Orange MAX Line in Portland, OR. Opening on September 12, 2015, this transit investment introduced light rail transit to SE Portland and Milwaukie, OR. The City of Portland, the City of Milwaukie, and Metro sought to use the new MAX line as a means of initiating job growth in the surrounding neighborhoods. The City of Portland introduce this ideology as employment-transit-oriented development (E-TOD). This thesis examines whether the local authorities were successful in achieving their goal of job creation through a difference-in-difference econometric regressions and descriptive spatial analysis. The findings of this study were insignificant and inconclusive, as no clear effect of the transit investment on employment growth was identified. There appears to be limited evidence to suggest that there was substantial job creation in the surrounding areas of the new MAX stations compared to the control area. Using these results, this study highlights the discrepancy between the identified goals and the observed outcomes. These findings provide insight into the effectiveness of an E-TOD strategy and add to the existing literature on the relationship between labor markets and transit-oriented development.
Description
62 pages
Keywords
Labor, Economics, Transit-oriented Development, Light-rail Transit, Job Growth, Transportation Policy, Portland, OR