Home to work commuting
Contact info
Labour Market, Social Statistics.Kristine Mulvad Jensen
+45 3917 3841
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The purpose of the RAS statistic is to provide a description of the Danish population's commuting and distance between place of residence and work place. The commuting statistic has been published since 1984. The distance between residence and work place was first published in 2006. The statistic is in the current form comparable from 2008 and forward.
Statistical presentation
The statistic is an annually and individual based count of the employed persons commuting between residence and work place in the last working day in November. Including a calculation of the distance between the commuters residence and work place i kilometers (km). The commuting statistic is published in the Statbank where the statistic besides from residence, work place and commuting distance also is divided on sex, industry (DB07) and socioeconomic status. Data is also available trough the Division of Research Services and DST Consulting.
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Statistical processing
The commuting statistic is compiled on the register-based labour force statistic (RAS), which is based on the Labour Market Account (LMA) - a longitudinal register. A comprehensive data validation is done in the production of AMR. RAS is done by taking a status (on the populations primary attachment to the labour market) on the last working day in November based on LMA. Based on the information about the address of residence and workplace for employed persons the commuting distance is calculated.
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Relevance
The statistic is relevant for users interested in mobility on the labour market and the data foundation makes it possible to connect detailed information for analysis.
Accuracy and reliability
The commuting statistic is compiled from RAS which is used to present the primary connection to the labour market for people resident in Denmark. RAS contains a series of data sources that are integrated, debugged and harmonized. RAS does therefore not contain the same uncertainties as statistics based on samplings.
The definition of the primary job for employed persons is source to uncertainty in the commuting statistic, since the workplace address for the primary job and the address of residence is the foundation for the calculation of the commuting distance. It is also important to be aware that the calculated commuting distance reflects an ideal situation where every person is believed to travel from residence to workplace by the shortest route and by car.
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Timeliness and punctuality
The commuting statistic is published approximately 17 months after the reference point in time. The date of publication, which is normally complied without delay, is defined more than a year ahead.
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Comparability
The statistic is published since 1984, and is in the current shape comparable from 2008 and forward. The statistic shows commuting within and across municipalities in Denmark, and the data foundation is based on administrative registers with national features. It is therefore difficult to compare the statistic internationally.
New and better data foundations and changes in the labour market have caused a number of data breaks over time, which have influence on the possibility of comparing data over time.
Accessibility and clarity
The statistic is published annually in a Danish press release, at the same time as the tables are updated in the StatBank. In the StatBank, these statistics can be found under Commuting from home and Commuting to workplace. For further information, go to the subject page for Commuting.