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2.2. Individual level - personal characteristics

The aim of this section is to shed some light on the contribution of selected individual
characteristics to the explanation of commuting behaviour. The illustrations (Fig. 5 and Fig.
6) show whether commuting behaviour differs due to personal characteristics and life phases.
Fig. 5 shows the commuting rates dependent on age, Fig. 6 the average commuting distance
of employees with different education grades (intermediate school leaving certificate [ISCED8
2], university entrance qualification [ISCED 3] and university degree [ISCED 5]) and
working hours (full-time, part-time) for the year 2003.

On the whole commuting rates differ strongly between educational grades (Fig. 5).
Employees with university degrees show above all age groups with 45.15% the highest
commuting rates. While at the beginning of working life the employees show low commuting
rates (about 41%), at the end of working life the values rise up to about 48% at the age of 41
years and fall afterwards to about 32%. Employees with university entrance qualifications
leave their residential municipality much more seldom (40.67%). In comparison to employees
with university degrees their working life begins much earlier. Shortly after work life begins
they show a relatively high commuting rate (about 43%). At the age of 36 years it rises up
again to about 43% after a decline and falls later successively to about 30%. Employees with
intermediate school leaving certificates have the lowest commuting rates (around 33.51%). As
noticed earlier at the beginning of work life the commuting rate is also still low. Later at the
age of 29 years it rises up gradually to 37%. Then the commuting rate continuously drops
down to 25%. Also the displacement of maximal commuting rates between different
educational grades has to be examined. While employees with intermediate school leaving
certificates reach their maximum at the age of 27 years, employees with university entrance
qualifications reach it at the age of 36 years and employees with university degrees at the age
of 41 years.

The differences of commuting rates are even stronger if a differentiation between full-time
employees and part-time employees is made. In the year 2003 over all age groups 36.49% of
the full-time employees were leaving their residence municipality. For part-time employees
there were only 26.4%. The curve reaches its maximum between the 33rd and 36th year. Full-
time employees have their maximum at about 39%, part-time employees at about 30%. In
higher ages the commuting rates fall continuously. Only part-time employees show an
increase from 20% to about 25% in the 56th year.

In the case of average commuting distances differences are small (Fig. 6). They commute
between 23 km and 28 km. As mentioned for the commuting rates the widest average
distances over all age groups are covered by employees with university degrees (28.9 km).
Already at the beginning of working life the maximum of 32.3 km is reached (here at 26
years). At the end of work life the average commuting distance decreases continuously up to
28.2 km. With an average commuting distance of 26.37 km between place of residence and
work, employees with university entrance qualifications follow. In contrast to employees with
university degrees the distances covered by them over all age groups are relatively steady.
The maximum of 27.3 km is reached at the beginning of working life. At higher ages the
covered distance is levelled out at 25.5 km to 26.5 km. Employees with intermediate school
leaving certificates cover an average distance of 23.07 km. Except employees with university
degrees the average commuting distance covered by employees rises with increased age.

Full-time employees cover an average commuting distance of 24.49 km which lies above
part-time employees with 23.34 km. The average commuting distance of part-time employees

8 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 97)

10



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