Employee turnover is at the heart of some new research that attempts to quantify just how much a good public bus system is worth to a business, and thus to a community.
Economics scholars Dagney Faulk and Michael Hicks of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana analyzed employee turnover rates among manufacturers and retailers in Rust Belt counties with and without bus operations between 1998 and 2010.
In a new paper in Urban Studies, they report, quite simply, that “counties with transit systems have lower turnover rates”—a win for workers, businesses, and the broader economy alike.
That’s something for business leaders in all communities to keep in mind the next time local officials make the case for more transit funding: the money doesn’t just help potential workers find jobs, it helps the jobs keep the workers they find.