A YouGov survey commissioned by Avanta, a welfare to work training and enterprise organisation, shows that 78 per cent of Londoners who are not retired or students are willing to travel for an hour or more (one way) to get to work.
The online survey, conducted earlier in the year questioned 2094 people nationwide, found that 41 per cent of Londoners who are not students or retired are willing to commute for a maximum of an hour each way to get to work, with a further 37 per cent willing to travel for more than an hour, compared to 21 per cent nationally.
Only those who are not retired or students in Scotland were as willing to commute up to an hour each way (41 per cent), although they were less willing to go beyond an hour (five per cent for an hour and fifteen minutes, and seven per cent for an hour and a half).
Least willing commuters who are not students or retired were people in the Midlands, of whom over half (52 per cent) were willing to travel for up to, or less than, 45 minutes (each way). 27 per cent were willing to travel up to an hour, but only 14 per cent were willing to travel for longer.
The survey also found that nationally, those who are not retired or students, most willing to travel up to an hour were unemployed (43 per cent) although those already in full time work were more willing to travel for longer (nine per cent willing to travel an hour and fifteen minutes, and 10 per cent for an hour and a half respectively).
Janette Faherty, CEO of Avanta, said, “London as a city has expanded, but this survey still indicates the dedication Londoners have to their work in order to willingly spend two hours a day, or longer in many cases, travelling. In London, it seems there is an acceptance of a long commute that isn’t necessarily the case in the rest of the country.
“The survey also points towards the efforts made by jobseekers, who are more willing to commute an hour to work than some of those are already in employment, for the opportunity to be the best they can in the workplace. At Avanta, we help unemployed people to find work through skills development, mentoring, training and enterprise so they can fulfill their workplace potential.”
