This follows reports from Personnel Today, which identified a consistent rise in commuting times, with travel times now five minutes longer than they were in 2007. With UK workers losing more and more time to the daily commute – what does this equate to in terms of potential earnings?
Workers of the East of England, could earn an average of £6.47 each day on their commute, which over a year equates to a significant £1,682.28. Based on a full working lifetime of 49 years (16-65), the potential earnings throughout a whole career is a whopping £82,431.72.
Workers in the East of England’s potential earnings are higher than the UK-wide average, which comes in at £6.29 per day, £1,635.40 per year, and £80,134.60 over a working lifetime. The people of London have the potential to earn the most, at £169,639.47 over a lifetime – £13.32 a day, £3,462.03 a year – and those from Northern Ireland have the potential to earn the least over a lifetime, at £58,013.35 – £4.56 a day, £1,183.94 a year.
“It’s not until you crunch the numbers that you can see the staggering financial cost of commuting in the East of England, and across the whole of the UK,” says Dan Greenslade, Marketing Specialist at Meetupcall. “There is such high earning potential during commutes, we can’t help but wonder whether this research will make individuals rethink how they spend their commute – and perhaps make more productive use of the time.
“Employers have options too. There are so many developments in technology now that facilitate remote working, allowing staff to cut out the commute entirely, or work flexibly while they’re on the move.”
Data calculated through:
Average commuting time in the East of England1
- 1-15 minutes - 41.9%
- 16-30 minutes - 35.2%
- 31-45 minutes - 12.3%
- 46-60 minutes - 6.6%
- 61+ minutes - 4.0%
Average annual earnings2: £34,008; Earnings per hour3: £17.44
Earnings per commute in the East of England:
- 1-15 minutes (8 min4) - £2.32
- 16-30 minutes (23 min) - £6.69
- 31-45 minutes (38 min) – £11.05
- 46-60 minutes – (53 min) - £15.05
- 61+ minutes – (68 min) - £19.77
Average earnings per commute in the East of England: £6.47
Average earnings per commute over a year in the East of England: £1,682.28
Potential earnings over a lifetime in the East of England: £82,431.72
- Data for all UK regions is available upon request
- Research and statistics are correct as of Jan 2019
- Data taken from the following sources:
- www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/commutingtoworkbygenderukcountryandregion
- www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/grossweeklyearningsoffulltimeemployeesbyregionearn05
- www.personneltoday.com/hr/2017-uk-commuting-times-by-transport-by-region/
(1) Commuting to work by gender, UK country and region - Labour Force Survey (LFS), and covers all in employment (16+) in October to December 2017.
(2) A EARN05: Average gross weekly earnings of full-time1 employees, by region: People (not seasonally adjusted) weekly earnings.
(3) Based on a 37.5 hour working week
(4) Based on median of range