Autumn Statement: Invest more to cut ever-longer commutes, says union

The Chancellor needs to invest more in infrastructure in next week's Autumn Statement to shorten ever-longer commutes given the number of employees commuting for two hours or more each day has shot up, a union has said.

The Trades Union Congress says a new analysis of official statistics shows that 3.7m workers, one in seven UK employees, spend at least two hours of their days commuting, a figure that has increased by nearly a third since 2010. The issue is affecting more and more women given that the biggest growth in long commutes is experienced in the education and health and social care sectors.

The TUC said the problem is also increasingly nationwide, with the biggest increases in commute times were in Northern Ireland, South East England, and the West Midlands, although London still has the largest number of employees with two-hour+ commutes (930,000). Average commute times increased the most for road users but also for rail commuters.

It believes the increase is explained by both increased housing costs forcing people to live further from work and by inadequate transport spending by international standards. Its backing for OECD levels of investment would cost £38bn extra a year by 2020/21. TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said:"If we are to reduce the pain of traffic jams and train delays, ministers need to invest more in public transport and in our roads."