The coronavirus outbreak has significantly altered professional environments, leading numerous individuals to adopt remote work arrangements throughout the crisis.
Companies have subsequently been assessing the benefits and downsides of remote work. Many have begun providing remote work Options for at least some portion of the week.
Nevertheless, certain employers are requesting their employees return to the physical workplace on a full-time basis. Most recently, Amazon ended its hybrid work policy , requiring employees to return to the office five days a week. The vast majority of employed people in the EU still commute.
According to Eurostat, only 13.5 per cent of employed individuals in the EU worked from home in 2021.
The amount of time spent commuting by European employees differs considerably from one country to another within Europe. According to the most recent data gathered before the pandemic in 2019 by Eurostat, which is the statistical office of the European Union, significant variations can be observed.
As our focus lies on commuting times instead of the ratio of office workers, mapping out these trends throughout Europe remains beneficial.
Within the European Union, which comprises 27 member countries, the typical commute duration for working individuals between the ages of 15 and 74 was approximately half an hour each way in 2019.
In Latvia, the longest average commuting time was 33 minutes, followed by Hungary and Luxembourg, each with an average of 29 minutes.
On the contrary, Cyprus had the shortest average commute time at 19 minutes. Greece (20 minutes), and Italy and Portugal (both 21 minutes) closely followed Cyprus.
The majority of EU member states (17 countries) had commute times ranging between 24 and 28 minutes.
When EFTA, the UK, and some candidate countries are included, Iceland stands out as an outlier with the shortest average commute time of just 15 minutes.
Certain southern European nations often experience shorter typical commute durations compared to many central and western European countries like Germany, France, and Switzerland, where commutes generally last about 25-27 minutes, aligning closely with the EU mean of 25 minutes.
What determines commuting time?
Overall, the layout of cities along with the geographical features of where people live and work significantly influence travel patterns.
José Ignacio Giménez-Nadal and his team explored the "commuting patterns of European workers" and found that the connections between commute times and various attributes of different countries are intricate.
They discovered that "improved road infrastructure, increased unemployment rates, and higher per-capita GDP correlate with reduced average commute durations, whereas greater vehicle ownership levels are linked to extended average commute periods."
The proportion of people who do not commute is greater in certain nations.
Examining the specifics of commuting patterns, 4.3 percent of working individuals in the EU were able to reach their primary workplace without traveling whatsoever.
In Slovenia, the largest percentage of "zero minutes" was recorded at 11.8 percent, closely trailed by Belgium with 8 percent, Ireland with 7.9 percent, and the UK with 7.6 percent.
The proportion of non-commuters was below 2 per cent in Greece and Italy.
We can broadly group commute times into three categories for a more detailed analysis:
- 1-29 minutes
- 30-59 minutes
- 60 minutes and over
In the European Union, approximately three out of every five individuals (61.3 percent) commuted for under 30 minutes, whereas around one out of every four people (26.3 percent) spent between 30 and 59 minutes traveling from their homes to their workplaces.
These times reflect one-way trips without any detours.
Among EU countries, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, and Portugal had the highest shares of people (over 70 per cent) commuting for 1-29 minutes, meaning that employees in these countries typically had shorter commutes to work.
More than a third of employed people in Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary commuted for between 30 and 59 minutes.
Who spends over an hour commuting most often?
In 2019, over 10 percent of working individuals in four European Union countries along with the United Kingdom experienced commuting times of at least 60 minutes.
The highest proportions, between 10.6 percent and 13.5 percent, were observed in Latvia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, and Hungary.
Throughout the entire European Union, 8.1 percent of working individuals traveled for at least one hour.
The information above offers a more comprehensive distribution of commuting time categories.
In Southern Europe—specifically Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, and Italy—commutes generally tend to be shorter. Conversely, in Eastern Europe such as Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, a greater proportion of people experience longer commute times.
In Western and Northern European nations, the distribution of commute durations tends to be more evenly spread out.
'A transformative shift in employment'
On the other hand, remote work Has progressively emerged as a crucial aspect of contemporary professional existence.
Pawel Adrjan, who leads EMEA research at theIndeed Hiring Lab, stated to Euronews Nextthat we are currently undergoinga historical shift in the realm ofwork.
"Our data shows that searches for remote and hybrid work are at or near all-time highs in France, Germany, Spain and the UK".
While commute time and working remotely are different indicators, Eurostat expects that the situation would have changed.
Most of the saved time goes back to employers
A recent study found that while commuters save a lot of time by avoiding travel, much of that "saved time" is given back to their employers.
Research conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) indicates that individuals working remotely during the pandemic utilized approximately 40 percent of their saved commuting time for primary and secondary tasks, about 34 percent for leisure activities (which amounts to around 24 minutes), and roughly 11 percent for caregiving duties (equivalent to about 8 minutes).
Extended commuting times associated with decreased happiness
Toon Zijlstra and Ann Verhetsel examined the "burden of commuting" in 35 European nations and discovered a distinct correlation between extended travel time to work and decreased levels of happiness.
Their findings indicate that people who have longer commutes often experience lower levels of overall happiness.
Satisfaction with public transport in various European capital cities and urban areas vary significantly.
What is the actual definition of typical travel time for work?
As per Eurostat, typical commuting time pertains to the commonly chosen method of transportation under regular weather circumstances, not including exceptional scenarios or abnormal traffic situations.
When two transportation methods are utilized equally (for instance, using a car for half the commute and a bus for the remaining portion), participants gauge the mean travel duration.
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