Abstract

Road freight transport is now essential for the inland movement of goods. However, truck traffic flows also generate various externalities that can affect individuals’ ability to work—through exposure to air pollution for instance—as well as firms’ capacity to operate, notably through road congestion. This article therefore estimates the impacts of truck traffic on the labor market. I rely on the introduction of the  German per-kilometer truck tax, the LKW-Maut, as a credible source of persistent traffic diversion into France’s Alsace region. Among the disamenities associated with increased truck traffic, I find that this diversion increased NO2 concentrations—an air pollutant closely linked to road transport—by 5% to 15% on the French side between 2005 and 2015. Using administrative panel data on individual workers, I document a persistent decline in total earnings, with roughly half of the effect driven by reductions in hours worked and the other half by lower hourly wages. The impact is strongest in construction and industry, while no significant effects are observed in retail or services; by contrast, workers in the transportation sector benefit from the increase in truck traffic. The effects are larger for men than for women, partly reflecting women’s overrepresentation in the least affected sectors. Earnings losses are also disproportionately concentrated among low-wage workers, whereas high-income workers are largely unaffected. Finally, I find that increased truck traffic reduces the probability of sectoral mobility but does not significantly affect geographical mobility.

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