Examining the relationship between communting patterns, employment growth and unemployment in the Sydney Major Statistical Region

This paper employs the Labour Market Accounts framework to explore how employment growth and commuting patterns interacted to determine changes in the spatial distribution of unemployment in Statistical Local Areas within the Sydney MSR over the period 1996-2001. Employment change over time is resolved by a combination of: (a) changes in the local employment of residents, which can incorporate net in or out-migration; and (b) changes in the level of net in- or out-commuting. Labour force changes are also decomposed. Separate regression models (including control variables) for men and women are estimated to estimate the relative strength of the relationships between these labour market adjustment responses and the percentage local employment change. The results show that employment growth between 1996 and 2001 has elicited substantial changes in commuting behaviour. Men reveal relatively greater in commuting and migration responsiveness to employment growth. Unemployment changes in local areas are swamped by commuting responses.