Does commuting behaviour affect labour supply and employee well-being: a case of the UK from 2009 to 2017.

This study examines the effect of commuting on employee’s general health, job satisfaction, and job hours, distinguishing between three dimensions of commuting: distance, time, and mode. The study uses the dynamic difference Generalised Methods of Moments (GMM) estimator to estimate causal impact of time on the three outcome variables using the longitudinal data for the British households form 2009-2017. Commuting time has a negative impact on an employee’s Subjective Health as well Job Satisfaction. In particular, as travel time increases by 10 minutes, the Self-Assessed Health (SAH) score worsens by 0.41 and the Job Satisfaction score worsens by 0.72. The causal relationship between commuting time and Job Hours could not be estimated. The study also found strong associations between commuting modes and the three outcomes. Active commuting was associated with better subjective health and driving to work with a distance of less than 35 miles worsens the SAH score. Distance and passive commuting were also associated with increased working hours. As travel time increased, active commuters worked 0.13 hours less when compared to passive commuters. Commuting actively (only cycling) decreased Job Satisfaction score as compared to passive commuting, however, within passive commuting, using a bus or a coach as a medium to commute increased Job Satisfaction