Commuting, Migration, Housing and Labour Markets: Complex Interactions

Commuting, migration, housing and labour markets are important for the overall economy and for the everyday life of many people. Commuting makes up a large part of all journeys world-wide and many resourcedemanding transport investment projects are initiated to cope with this type of travelling. In a range of countries, increasing flows of national and international migration are central determinants of demographic developments. In industrialised countries, the working-age population or those aspiring to be part of the economically active population constitute a large proportion of the total population. Consequently, income earned through working represents a major component of total earnings in these economies (Cahuc and Zylberberg, 2004). In order to obtain an efficient labour market, workers should locate and relocate to where the relevant jobs are to be found. From an economic point of view, commuting and migration are essential elements for obtaining a well-functioning labour market (Fischer et al., 1996; Lux and Sunega, 2012; Zabel, 2012). Finally, housing is a basic good and for many people rents or loan repayments make up a relatively large proportion of their overall budget (OECD, 2011). Moreover, housing represents a dominating element of homeowners’ wealth or equity. Due to its central role during the financial and economic crisis starting around 2007, it has become clear that housing prices are important for the development of the overall economy in many countries (for example, Muellbauer and Murphy, 2008; Zabel, 2012). Housing and labour markets are linked in many ways. When explaining these links it is useful to start with some of the distinguished features of housing markets. As already mentioned, houses frequently constitute a major part of households’ wealth. Moreover, earned income from employment is a major