Job-induced commuting between two residences - Characteristics of a multilocational living arrangement in the late-modernity

Darja Reuschke

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Against the background of the on-going flexibilisation of labour markets and a rising labour force participation of (highly) qualified women, job-related commuting between a main and secondary residence has become more important in Western capitalist countries like Germany nowadays. The limited number of recent empirical studies on this kind of multilocational living arrangement almost entirely focuses on commuters in couple/family households. The main objective of this article is, firstly, to provide data about the characteristics and formation contexts of job-related multilocational household organisations as a whole in order to make a contribution to the discussion of the forms and causes of this currently important phenomenon. Secondly, the multilocational form of living is investigated by means of comparison analyses taking long-distance movers as comparison group in order to provide insights into who prefers commuting to migration with the complete household under which circumstances. The article draws on data of a field research study, which have been obtained from an individual based random sample from official registers of inhabitants of four metropolises in Germany. The sample was restricted to individuals with specific characteristics (in-movers, age 25-59). The fully structured postal interviews were complemented by qualitative telephone interviews with selected commuters. The results show that commuters are a heterogeneous group. Living in a partnership and the social connections established thereby play a prominent role for multilocational household organisations. Among male commuters one can distinguish between those who are young, unmarried and predominantly childless on the one hand, and a group of older married commuters with children in the household on the other. The vast majority of female commuters, however, live childless. As men commute between two residences even if they live with a family, they have a job-related secondary residence significantly more often than women. Late-modern characteristics of job-related multilocational living arrangements are dual earner households for male commuters and high occupational positions for female commuters. The commuting between two accommodations is strongly connected to the career entry on the one hand and is also important in a later occupational career phase as a partly longer-lasting period. It may be suggested that the rise of fix-term employment will further increase the importance of multilocational living arrangements in late-modernity.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)107-134
    Number of pages28
    JournalComparative Population Studies - Zeitschrift für Bevölkerungswissenschaft
    Volume35
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

    Keywords

    • secondary residence
    • commuter
    • long-distance migration
    • geographical mobility

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