Can't Get There From Here: How Transportation Locks Baltimore Workers Out of Jobs

It is one of the more counterintuitive facts about Baltimore’s labor market: in a city with a documented unemployment problem, employers in the surrounding region regularly report difficulty filling positions. Workers are available. Jobs exist. But a growing body of research shows that the two cannot reliably connect — not because of skills gaps or unwillingness to work, but because getting to work is a problem that Baltimore’s transit system, licensing rules, and cost structures have not solved.

A report from the Abell Foundation, “License to Work: Driver’s Licensure, Vehicle Access, and Affordable Transportation as Key Levers for Baltimore’s Workforce,” examines the specific mechanics of that disconnect. Its findings are more concrete than typical workforce development analysis — and more actionable.

Three Locks, One Door

The Abell report identifies three interlocking barriers that prevent Baltimore residents from reaching stable employment.

Driver’s license requirements. Many employers list a valid driver’s license as a requirement for positions that don’t actually involve driving. The practice is common and rarely scrutinized. For residents who cannot afford a vehicle, whose licenses were suspended — often for reasons unrelated to driving ability, such as unpaid court fines — or who never learned to drive, this requirement is effectively a closed door, regardless of whether it is necessary for the job.

The cost of vehicle ownership. For those who could theoretically own a car, the cost is often prohibitive. Auto insurance in Baltimore City is among the most expensive in Maryland, driven by factors including theft rates, population density, and the financial profiles of urban zip codes. Financing a vehicle — even an older, inexpensive one — is difficult without established credit. Maintenance and repair costs are unpredictable. The total cost of vehicle ownership can consume a significant portion of a low-wage paycheck.

Where the jobs are. The third barrier is geographic. The Abell report documents that “cars remain the most viable mode of transportation to the majority of jobs in the Baltimore region.” Employment growth has concentrated in suburban corridors — areas served inadequately or not at all by the Maryland Transit Administration’s bus and rail networks. A worker living in West Baltimore may be able to reach downtown easily by transit but face a multi-hour, multi-transfer commute to reach a warehouse, distribution center, or healthcare facility in Baltimore or Anne Arundel County.

Who This Affects

The transportation barrier hits hardest in the neighborhoods where unemployment is already highest — predominantly Black, predominantly low-income communities on the west and east sides of the city where the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance documents some of the worst labor market outcomes. The workers most in need of access to employment are the ones for whom access is most difficult.

The Abell Foundation’s research highlights the compounding nature of this barrier: transportation instability makes it difficult to maintain consistent attendance, which affects job retention, which affects income, which affects the ability to maintain a car or pay transit costs. Once a worker falls out of stable employment, the transportation barrier becomes harder, not easier, to overcome.

Potential Solutions

The Abell report calls for action across multiple levels of government and from employers themselves.

At the state level, it recommends reforming the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for non-driving offenses — a policy that traps low-income residents in a cycle where an unpaid fine prevents employment, which prevents paying the fine, which keeps the license suspended. Maryland has made some progress in this area but has not eliminated the practice.

The report also calls on employers to audit their job postings and remove driver’s license requirements for positions that don’t require driving; on regional planners to prioritize transit investment in corridors connecting city neighborhoods to suburban job centers; and on philanthropic and government funders to support low-cost auto insurance programs, vehicle access funds, and driver education for adults who never had the opportunity to learn.

The Bigger Picture

Baltimore’s workforce development programs — job training, apprenticeships, placement services — typically treat transportation as the worker’s problem, not the system’s problem. The Abell Foundation’s analysis makes the case that until transportation is treated as a structural barrier requiring structural solutions, workforce programs will continue to underperform — moving individuals through training and then losing them to the logistics of actually showing up.

The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance tracks workforce outcomes across the city’s neighborhoods, including employment rates, commute patterns, and labor force participation. Its data tells the story of where the jobs aren’t and where the workers are — a map that the Abell report argues demands a different kind of response.

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This article draws on “License to Work: Driver’s Licensure, Vehicle Access, and Affordable Transportation as Key Levers for Baltimore’s Workforce,” published by the Abell Foundation (abell.org), and indicator data from the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance (bniajfi.org).