More than 3.5 million people in Germany have to commute more than 50 kilometers to work. Others continue to commute, according to workers' commute figures. A southern state capital has the most commuters.
Commuters traveled an average of almost 17 kilometers to work last year. As reported by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development, 19.6 million people in Germany and thus almost 60 percent of all employees subject to social security contributions did not work at their place of residence.
For 3.6 million commuters, the one-way commute to work was longer than 50 kilometers. In sparsely populated areas and in the environs of the major labor market centers such as Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, the distances are longer.
"In a comparison of all independent cities and districts, commuters in the districts of Ludwigslust-Parchim (27.9 kilometers), Altmarkkreis Salzwedel (27.3 kilometers), Märkisch-Oderland (27 kilometers), Landsberg am Lech (26.6 kilometers ) and Dahme-Spreewald (26 kilometers) covered the greatest distances," said the Federal Institute.
Munich continues to lead the list of major cities with the most commuters: around 400,000 employees commuted to the Bavarian capital last year. According to the Federal Institute, there were almost 385,000 in Frankfurt am Main, 355,500 in Hamburg, almost 327,000 in Berlin and around 282,000 in Cologne.
Few major cities have more outbound commuters than inbound commuters. "This primarily affects smaller cities in the immediate vicinity of the major labor market centers - such as Fürth, Offenbach and Bergisch-Gladbach - as well as some cities in the Ruhr area, such as Oberhausen, Herne, Bottrop, Hamm, Moers and Gelsenkirchen."
The evaluation by the Federal Institute is based on data from the Federal Employment Agency. However, the statistics do not show how many people actually drove to work or worked from home. The data also say nothing about the means of transport.
