Getting to and from work in the suburbs is a job within itself, but the suburbs offer the best opportunity for Ms. Johnson, 50. But here in the Motor City, cars are out of reach for Ms. Johnson and thousands of poor people like her. Only one in four residents owns one. On weekend nights in some of the poorest sections, young men pedal around on bicycles instead of cruising the streets in cars. But it is in work, not play, where the lack of a set of wheels really haunts Detroiters.
Jobs are more plentiful in suburban areas nationwide, and Detroit is no exception.
The unemployment rate in this city of one million is 7.2 percent, a vast improvement from the 17 percent rate during the 1992 recession, but more than double the unemployment rates in suburbs. The city, however, has no subway or commuter rail lines in its 140 square miles, and it ranks last in public transportation funding among the 20 largest metro areas nationwide. Even the officials running the city and suburban bus systems acknowledge that public transportation here is inadequate. So while suburbanites have no trouble driving to jobs downtown, city dwellers without cars find the reverse commute difficult. The conundrum of having pools of would-be workers far away from pools of jobs creates inefficiencies in the job market.