Eighty five per cent of Greater Manchester’s residents work within the region and commuting by car remains the most popular way of getting to work.
However the changing nature of employment with proportionally less employment based from a set workplace and an increase in working at or from home.
These are the conclusions of a recent survey by the Commission for the New Economy into our commuting travel patterns undertaken this summer.
In the decade to 2011 the population of Greater Manchester grew by 6.6% to reach 2.68m; with much of this population growth concentrated within Manchester, Trafford and Salford.
At the same time, 190,000 more GM residents became economically active.
Given this context, in 2011 there were just fewer than 1.06m people travelling to work on a regular basis. Just over 900,000 (85%) of these travelling workers lived within GM, with 155,000 commuting into the region.
The study found that Manchester and Trafford remain the focal points as far as locations of work are concerned but Salford is growing as a work location.
Rochdale, Bury and Stockport, gain workers from outside of Greater Manchester but lose workers to the rest of the area in net terms.
Whilst, Tameside, Oldham, Bolton and Wigan are export of workers to other authorities in the conurbation and also net exporters of workers to authorities outside of the conurbation.
Over the past decade more residents are travelling outside their local authority to work and they are travelling further when doing so.
Greater Manchester has stronger labour market links to authorities in Cheshire and the High Peak than to Lancashire, Merseyside and the more distant parts of West Yorkshire.
In the face of more and longer journeys to work, commuting by car remains the most popular way of getting to work although growth in walking, cycling and public transport usage has been impressive.
The region is also witnessing a breakdown in the traditional home/office split, with nearly 20% of workers either working from home or having no fixed office address.
If these trends continue it could mean the concepts of rush hour and off-peak travel on the roads and public transport network need to be revisited, the report concludes.
