Commuting time falls as flexible working increases

A  report from the TUC to coincide with Workwise UK's Commute Smart week this week shows in 2006 5,517,000 people (21.9%) commuted for more than an hour and this dropped to 5,311,000 (20.9%).

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, puts this down to an increase in flexible working. He said: "The fall in commute times is heartening because it reverses a 10-year trend towards more long hours work journeys, which culminated in a record number of people spending more than an hour commuting each day.

"The statistics show one in five employees still spend more than an hour per day on their journey. It's vital that concerns about the economy do not deter employers from introducing flexible working, which could ease the strain for hard-pressed workers, while delivering real benefits for business."