Following the Budget, a survey from the UK’s leading independent job board, CV-Library, confirms that planned investment in Northern transport and regional Oyster-style card will drastically increase the number of accessible, skilled workers to the North.
From 2,100 job hunters who took part in the survey, those who drive to work (42.9%) were found to travel for shorter periods of time and are less willing to increase their commute compared with those who use trains (13.6%).
Of those that commute on trains, 69.1 percent are based in London or the South East, compared to only 13.5 percent in the North East and West.
The average Londoner spends around 40 minutes commuting to work, whereas those in the North West and North East on average spend 30 minutes commuting.
However, Londoners that depend on trains are more willing than the rest of the nation to increase their commute if needed, despite already having the longest commute in the country. 63.3 percent of Londoners would increase their commute to over 50 minutes, compared to just 51.9 percent of workers in the North East and West.
Mode of transport seems to play a key part in willingness to commute with 76 percent of workers that commute via train saying they would increase their commute to 50 minutes or more, compared with just 47.6 percent of those who drive.
This data, along with the Budget announcement, confirms that reliable transport infrastructure is essential to achieving a Northern Powerhouse and would lower barriers currently preventing businesses from attracting skilled workers.
Lee Biggins, managing director of CV-Library, says:
“A Northern Oyster system forms part of wider requests for transport infrastructure investment in the North of the country and will mean investment is diverted from the capital to other areas of the UK as part of promised decentralisation from our government. Connecting Northern cities and making commutes easier and shorter will improve productivity and enable skilled workers to explore opportunities further afield.
“If a suggested £15bn can be secured in the near future then cross network payment, improved rail and transport links and perhaps mobile payments could become a reality by 2020. Job applications in the north are currently strong, but we believe we would see a significant increase should proposals go ahead.”
Amie Filcher is an editorial assistant at HRreview.
