Does temporary employment increase length of commuting: Longitudinal evidence from Australia and Germany

Inga Laß, Thomas Skora, Heiko Rüger, Mark Wooden and Martin Bujard
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Inga Laß: Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)
Thomas Skora: Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)
Heiko Rüger: Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)
Martin Bujard: Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)

Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series from Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne

Abstract: By definition, temporary workers, such as fixed-term, casual and temporary agency workers, have jobs that are far less stable than permanent jobs. However, surprisingly few studies have investigated whether and to what extent this lesser stability translates into longer commutes to work. Using data from the German SOEP and the Australian HILDA Survey, this article investigates the link between temporary employment and length of commutes in different institutional contexts. We compare three types of temporary workers and apply fixed-effects regression, thereby accounting for unobserved worker heterogeneity. We also estimate unconditional quantile regression (UQR) models, thus allowing us to examine how the commuting length differential varies over the commuting length distribution. The results suggest that the link between temporary employment and commuting length varies by employment type and institutional context, as well as location in the distribution. On average, agency work is associated with longer commutes than permanent work in both countries, whereas fixed-term contracts are only associated with longer commutes in Germany. Further, UQR shows these associations are often strongest in the upper end of the distribution. For casual work, mean regression suggests no commuting length differential, whereas the UQR shows negative associations for large parts of the distribution.

Keywords: Australia; commuting; Germany; longitudinal analysis; quantile regression; temporary employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 J81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31pp
Date: 2021-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Does temporary employment increase length of commuting? Longitudinal evidence from Australia and Germany (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2021n07

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