Employment and Commuting by Rural Women on the Metropolitan Periphery

Heather I. MacDonald
Alan H. Peters
July 1993

This report is the product of a third-year research project in the University Transportation Centers Program. The program was created by Congress in 1987 to "contribute to the solution of important regional and national transportation problems," following a national competition in 1988. A university-based center was established in each of the ten federal regions. Each center has a unique theme and research purpose, although all are interdisciplinary and also have educational missions.

The Midwest Transportation Center is one the ten centers; it is a consortium that includes Iowa State University (lead institution) and the University of Iowa. The Center serves Federal Region 7 which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Its theme is "transportation actions and strategies in a region undergoing major social and economic transition." Research projects conducted through the Center bring together the collective talents of faculty, staff, and students within the region to address issues related to this important theme.

This project is central to the Midwest Transportation Center's theme in that it examines the relationship between commuting and economic development. The east central Iowa region has undergone substantial economic restructuring over the past decade and a half as a result of changes in agriculture and manufacturing. Economic restructuring has intersected with social restructuring as rural women's labor force participation rates have increased. New patterns of employment have in turn created new commuting patterns as different industrial sectors have centralized and in some cases decentralized jobs.

The principal investigator was Heather I. MacDonald. The co-investigator was Alan H. Peters. Both are faculty in the University of Iowa's Graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning. This project was undertaken at the University of Iowa's Public Policy Center. Research efforts undertaken at the Public Policy Center reflect the University's renewed commitment to applied research that seeks to advance the public interest.

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