What commute times tell us about the gender pay gap

WOMEN prefer to work in jobs with shorter commutes even if it means less pay.

Those are the findings of new research by the Office For National Statistics.

The analysis examined the relationship between gender and the

time spent travelling to and from work.

It showed that men tend to have longer commutes than women - and the difference between the two genders follows the same pattern as the gender pay gap.

The average commute for a man from home to work in 2018 was nearly 24 minutes, compared to nearly 19 minutes for a woman.

The analysis shows that the gap between male and female commuting times widens as people reach their mid 20s.

Pay levels also begin to diverge when men and women reach this age suggesting the gender pay gap is linked to job flexibility.

The study found that when quitting their job, women are more likely to take commuting time into account - while the hourly pay rate has a bigger effect on male decisions to quit.

That suggests that women favour jobs with shorter commutes - at the expense of pay.

That could be because women provide the majority of childcare and household work in the UK.

The latest figures show women spend more than twice as many hours a week (4.7) doing childcare than men (1.9 hours).

Women also devote 26 hours a week to household work, compared with just 16 hours for men.

Statistician Vahé Nafilyan, who authored the report, wrote: “If part of the gender pay gap is caused by women’s willingness to accept lower wages in exchange of greater flexibility and shorter commutes, then closing the gender pay gap would involve addressing the reasons why women favour more flexible jobs.

“One such reason may be to combine work and family lives, as women provide the majority of childcare as well as care for elderly parents and relatives.

“Providing affordable childcare, encouraging flexible working practices and promoting more equal gender norms around care could be the best way to eliminate the gender pay gap.”

Commute times have gradually risen since 2002.

That year the median figure stood at just over 21 minutes for men, and almost 16 minutes for women.