Most workers take less than half an hour to get to work

Around 75 per cent of workers take less than half an hour to travel from home to work, according to the Office for National Statistics.

However, commuting patterns are vastly different between workers in London and those working in the rest of the UK, it found.

People working in London, in particular central London, tend to travel longer to get to work, with more than half, 56 per cent, needing to commute for more than thirty minutes to get to work every day, says the ONS. In contrast, of those working in the rest of the UK, only 20 per cent need to travel as long to reach their workplace.

In the final quarter of 2009, around 3 in 5, or 59 per cent of all workers in the UK worked and lived in the same local authority district. The remaining, 41 per cent, worked in a different local authority district from the one in which they lived. Some 71 per cent drive to work. In London only 35 per cent of people drove to work, compared with 76 per cent of those working in the rest of the UK.

Regardless of the length of travel-to-work time, those who work in London tend to earn more than those who work in the rest of the UK, says ONS.

However, for workers in both London and the rest of the UK, those with long commutes to work (more than sixty minutes) tend to earn more than those who have short commutes (fifteen minutes or less). In addition, the figures show working full-time rather than part-time, and working in a high-skill (manager and professionals) rather than low-skill (elementary) occupations are associated with long commutes to work. Of the people working full-time, 29 per cent have long commutes, compared with only 14 percent of part-time workers. Of the people working in high-skill jobs, 36 per cent have long commutes, compared with only 12 per cent of those in low-skill jobs.

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