Capital Region Office Workers Spend 1 Hour 20 Minutes Commuting... 32% "Leave Work Before 5 PM"

Office workers living in the Seoul metropolitan area were found to spend an average of about 1 hour and 20 minutes commuting daily.

On the 21st, Statistics Korea announced the results of the "Experimental Statistics on Worker Mobility Patterns Based on Pseudonymized Public-Private Data Integration," which included this information. This survey analysis was conducted on approximately 7.12 million workers (commuters) with mobility data by pseudonymously linking SK Telecom communication data and Statistics Korea’s statistical registration information.

Office workers are heading to work wearing thick coats on Sejong-daero in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

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According to the analysis, the average commuting time for workers was 72.6 minutes. The average time taken to commute to work was 34.7 minutes, and the return commute took 37.9 minutes. Men’s commuting time was 75.6 minutes, which was 7.7 minutes longer than women’s (67.9 minutes).

Based on the commuters’ place of residence, the longest commuting time was in the Seoul metropolitan area, where about 83.2 minutes were spent commuting daily. The next longest commuting time was in the Southeast region, with 63.7 minutes. The shortest commuting time was in the Gangwon region (52.1 minutes).

By age group, commuters under 30 years old had the longest commuting time at 75.5 minutes, and the time decreased as age increased. The average commuting distance was 18.4 km. By region, the Seoul metropolitan area (20.4 km) had the longest commuting distance, and by age group, those in their 40s (19.5 km) had the longest commuting distance.

Among commuters, 24.6% started work before 7 a.m. Among men, 31.6% arrived at work before 7 a.m. Female commuters most commonly started work between 8 and 9 a.m., accounting for 26.0%.

The most common time to leave work was before 5 p.m. (32.4%), followed by 5 to 6 p.m. (20.8%). The proportion of commuters who started work before 7 a.m. and left before 5 p.m. increased with age. Those under 30 tended to start work later and leave later compared to other age groups.

The main work areas in the Seoul metropolitan area were Gangnam in Seoul, Hwaseong in Gyeonggi, Seongnam in Gyeonggi, Jung-gu in Seoul, and Seocho-gu in Seoul. These top five districts accounted for 22.6% of the total.

Statistics Korea stated, "The data obtained from this survey can be used to establish various worker support policies and transportation policies," and added, "We will continue to cooperate with SK Telecom to strengthen policy support through data."

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