Is your commute getting worse?

With the proportion of workers working from home falling, commuting to work rose this year – and so too long commutes, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan).

In May 2023, 15.9 million Canadians or four in five workers commuted to a location outside their home for work.

This number was up by 724,000 (+4.8%) compared with May 2022 and by 3.3 million (+26.2%) compared with May 2021.

“The recent rise in commuting was driven in part by a decline in the proportion of employed Canadians working from home, as well as historically high population growth and marked gains in total employment,” said StatCan.

Overall, the proportion of workers usually working from home had fallen to one in five (20.1%) in May 2023 from 22.4% in May 2022 and 24.3% in May 2021.

Numerous employers – including RBC and Amazon – have called on workers to report to the office more often each week. 

Workers taking long commutes

Over eight in 10 (82.6%) or about 13.2 million of workers commuted to work by car (including truck or van) in May 2023, according to StatCan. This was down from May 2022 (84.2%) and May 2021 (84.0%) numbers.

Meanwhile, 10.1% of commuters (1.6 million people) mainly travelled to work via public transit, up from the proportions recorded in May 2022 (8.5%; 1.3 million) and May 2021 (7.8%; 1.0 million).

And 6.0% (960,000 people) commuted via active transportation (such as walking or cycling) in May 2023, down slightly compared to 6.3% (961,000 people) in May 2022 and 6.1% (769,000 people) in May 2021.

But with the overall rise in commuting to work, it also took workers longer to get to the workplace, according to StatCan.

Specifically, there was a 51.7% (+306,000) increase in the number of workers with a long car commute – lasting 60 minutes or more – from May 2021 to May 2023.

Those who travelled by car spent 24.5 minutes on the road in May 2023, up from 22.9 minutes and 24.0 minutes, respectively, in each of the last two years.

Among workers mainly using active transportation, commute duration also increased slightly from May 2021 to May 2023 (+0.9 minutes to 14.9 minutes). 

Meanwhile, the average commute time for public transit users was virtually unchanged over the same period at 42.2 minutes.

Time spent commuting can be put to good use at work. Specifically in Canada, remote workers save 65 minutes when working from home, and they spend 41 per cent of that time for work, according to a previous report from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Pros and cons of commuting to work

Requiring workers to commute to work can bring about some positives and negatives for the workers, according to Indeed. The positive things about commuting to work include:

• Employees can socialize with other people.
• Employees can use the commuting time to relax.
• Employees can spend time outdoors.
• Employees can become more familiar with your area.

However, the negatives include:

• Commuting can affect employees’ free time.
• It may be necessary for workers to pay for their transportation.
• Commuting may affect when workers wake up.
• Employees can experience traffic during the commute.