Household Commuting Behavior and Job Change in the US

The time that workers spend commuting to and from work has increased in recent decades in many developed economies. However, most research on the topic has ignored how a couple’s commuting behaviors are related. This paper analyzes how husband and wife commuting behaviors respond to job change in the United States. Using household data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for the period 2011-2019, we analyze how job change is related to variations in commuting, in a setting without residential moving. Estimates indicate that husband’s job change relates to a decrease in his commuting time, and also to a decrease in his wife’s commuting. Conversely, a wife’s job change relates to an increase in her commuting time, while if both the husband and the wife change their jobs at the same time, the commuting time of the husband, but not that of the wife, responds increasingly significantly. Furthermore, these results seem driven by job changes associated with wage decreases. This analysis contributes to the field of commuting and job search, providing results for a sample of households, rather than focusing solely on individuals. The results may serve to guide future planning programs on travel behavior, where intra-household commuting, instead of individual commuting, is the target of the intervention