Much attention is being paid to the role of public transit in employment-re
lated mobility for urban residents, yet there is very little evidence of th
e degree to which one affects the other. Little research has focused on how
labor participation is affected by increases in urban workers' access to p
ublic transportation. Research on the spatial mismatch hypothesis has dealt
with the relationship between labor participation and the spatial separati
on of workers' residences From suitable jobs; however, most analyses concen
trate on commuting time or distance as a function of auto use. Few studies
have considered the impacts of public transportation on labor participation
. This article describes a study analyzing the locations and employment cha
racteristics of workers with varying levels of access to public transit. Us
ing census data and a variety of spatial measures generated by a geographic
information system (GIS), a two-stage lease squares regression was used to
estimate the relationship of access to public transit with labor participa
tion levels for Portland, Oregon, and Atlanta, Georgia. The results suggest
that access to public transit is a significant factor in determining avera
ge rates of labor participation within these two cities.