Migration and longer distance commuting in rural England

Abstract

This paper examines whether recent in-migrants to rural settlements in England commute further to work than the longer-term residents of these places and whether commuting distance differs according to the type of move and the geographical context of their home. The study is based on data from the Controlled Access Microdata Sample (CAMS) of the 2001 Census of Population. It is found that recent in-migrants are much more likely to commute at least 20km than are the longer-term residents. Using binary logistic regression so as to allow for socio-demographic differences between people, it is shown that the likelihood of longer distance commuting was highest for people who had moved home by between 15 and 99km and for people moving from the largest cities.