Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation,
Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies

No 498: Commuting longer to reach the workplace: evidence from pandemic lockdowns

Pia Nilsson (), Eleanor Johansson (), Johan P Larsson (), Lucia Naldi () and Hans Westlund ()
Additional contact information
Pia Nilsson: Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Eleanor Johansson: Department of Economics, The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Johan P Larsson: Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK.
Lucia Naldi: Centre for Family Business and Entrepreneurship CeFEO, Jönköping University, Jönköping Sweden.
Hans Westlund: Department of Urban and Regional Studies, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract: We investigate how the lockdown-induced exposure to remote work affected the likelihood of switching to longer commutes using a longitudinal full-population register of Swedish employees. Employees with little experience of long distance commuting were more likely to start commuting longer if they had occupations with high potential for remote work. Examining heterogeneity across sectors, this is especially evident among high-skilled workers in sectors with both high and low pre-existing shares of remote work and longer commutes. Our findings are important for understanding regional expansion and spatial extensions of labour markets in a world where more work can be done remotely.

Keywords: Labour mobility; Commuting distance; Remote work: Knowledge-intensive sectors; Covid-19

JEL-codes: J24; J61; R10; R30

Language: English

24 pages, May 23, 2024

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