Is your commute killing you?: On the mortality risks of long-distance commuting

Sandow, Erika,1978-Umeå universitet,Centrum för befolkningsstudier (CBS),Kulturgeografi (författare)

Is your commute killing you? : On the mortality risks of long-distance commuting

There is a general belief that expanding labour-market regions, triggered by increased commuting, have positive economic effects on individuals, firms, and society. Recently, however, scholars have reported possible negative outcomes related to health and well-being. Based on these findings, this study addresses the association between long-distance commuting, and mortality. Using longitudinal individual data from between 1985 and 2008, focusing on 55-year-olds in 1994, we model mortality through propensity score matching and Kaplan–Meyer estimates of survival among long-distance commuters and matched controls from the population travelling short distances to work. The results indicate that women who have experienced long-distance commuting face a significantly higher mortality risk compared with women with short commutes to work. This seems to be driven by variations in income and education: for example, for women with long-distance commuting experience, substantially lower survival rates are found among those with low education and low income. A very different picture emerges for men, for whom mortality risks do not seem to be associated with long-distance commuting. Our findings suggest that men and women are subject to different mechanisms regarding the nexus between commuting and mortality.

Westerlund, Olle,1951-Umeå universitet,Institutionen för nationalekonomi,Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, Finland,Economic Policy Network / ALC(Swepub:umu)olwe0001 (författare)
Lindgren, Urban,1966-Umeå universitet,Kulturgeografi(Swepub:umu)urli0001 (författare)
Umeå universitetCentrum för befolkningsstudier (CBS) (creator_code:org_t)

Av författaren/redakt...: Sandow, Erika, 1 ...; Westerlund, Olle ...; Lindgren, Urban, ...

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