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Published: 1 November 2019

Commuting is common in professional occupations

According to the data of Statistics Finland's employment statistics, 185,000 professionals and 165,000 experts worked outside their municipality of residence in 2017. There were most professionals among commuters, 23.5 per cent, while experts represented around 21.0 per cent of commuters ¹⁾ . Among towns with at least 100,000 jobs, the biggest commuter group to Helsinki, Espoo and Tampere were software and applications developers and analysts, most shop sales persons commuted to Vantaa, and most nursing and midwifery associate professionals commuted to Turku.

Number of employed persons in the main categories of the Classification of Occupations 2010 by commuting in 2017

Examined on the 5-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010, measured by the number of commuters most commuting professionals were found among software developers (around 10,000), other secondary education teaching professionals (8,400) and systems analysts (7,800). Among technicians and associate professionals, the biggest commuter groups were commercial sales representatives (20,200), nurses (19,500) and social instructors (10,300). (Appendix table 3a.)

There were persons that commuted between two municipalities in almost all 5-digit level occupations. Measured in absolute numbers, shop sales assistants commuted the most, 32,400 persons. The second most common commuter occupations were commercial sales representatives (20,200), nurses (19,500), and heavy truck and lorry drivers (18,600).

Among all shop sales assistants (some 103,400 persons) close on one-third, 31.3 per cent, commuted. Correspondingly, of all commercial sales representatives 49.4 per cent, 32.4 per cent of nurses and 44.0 per cent of heavy truck and lorry drivers commuted.

Measured by the share of commuters of all employed persons in the occupation group, the share was highest among ships' engineers (82.7 per cent), aircraft pilots and related associate professionals (82.5 per cent) and large ships' officers and mates (81.4 per cent). (Appendix table 3b.)

Most software and applications developers and analysts commuted to Helsinki, Espoo and Tampere, most shop sales persons to Vantaa, and most nursing and midwifery associate professionals to Turku

Most employees commuted from another municipality to work in Helsinki, 158,500 commuters in total. Among towns with the most jobs (more than 100,000 jobs) the share of commuters into the town of all jobs in the town was highest in Vantaa, 58.1 per cent. The corresponding shares in other towns were: In Espoo 47.1 per cent, 39.9 per cent in Helsinki, 38.2 per cent in Turku and 35.2 per cent in Tampere. Measured in absolute numbers, most employees also commuted to these five towns. (Appendix tables 2a to 2e.)

Examined by the 3-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010, most software and applications developers and analysts commute to Helsinki, Espoo and Tampere. By contrast, most shop sales persons commuted to Vantaa, and most nurses and midwifery associate professionals to Turku. Occupational group 322 Nursing and midwifery associate professionals consists of three 5-digit level occupational groups: 32211 Nurses, 32212 Public health nurses and 3222 Midwifery associate professionals. For commuters, the share of nurses in the 3-digit level occupational group 322 was over 80 per cent both in general and in Turku.

In total, 16,300 software and applications developers and analysts commuted to these five towns from outside the town, which was 78.7 per cent of all commuting employees in this occupation group. Of all commuting software and applications developers and analysts, total more than 50 per cent focused on two towns, Helsinki (39.3 per cent) and Espoo (20.3 per cent).Those working in Espoo as software and applications developers and analysts commute 6.4 percentage points more in relative terms than those working in Helsinki (Espoo 56.8 per cent, Helsinki 40.4 per cent). (Appendix tables 4a to 4b.)

Administration professionals commuted mainly to Helsinki. Around 46.8 per cent of commuting administration professionals commuted to Helsinki, 6,400 persons in all. Over one-half of those working as administration professionals in Helsinki also lived in Helsinki, 57.4 per cent

Around 24.1 per cent of all commuting transport and storage labourers commuted to Vantaa. Around 54.5 per cent of all transport and storage labourers working in Vantaa were commuters. The corresponding figure in Helsinki was 35.6 per cent.

The biggest difference in the share of commuters in total jobs in the area between these five town was found in sales, marketing and public relations professionals. Those working in Vantaa as sales, marketing and public relations professionals commute 34.5 percentage points more in relative terms than those working in Helsinki (Vantaa 77.2 per cent, Helsinki 42.7 per cent). Personal care workers in health services, in turn, commute in relative terms most evenly between these towns: the share of commuters in total jobs in the area fluctuated between 26.7 and 33.8 per cent (7.1 percentage point difference).

Examined by the whole country, the most common occupations of commuters at the 3-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 were sales assistants and shop keepers (39,500), personal care workers in health services (28,800) and physical and engineering science technicians (28,300).

In Statistics Finland's employment statistics for 2017, the occupations of employed persons aged 18 to 74 in the last week of the year have been classified into occupational groups according to the Classification of Occupations 2010. ^{2) 3)}

1) Amomg all commuters with an occupation.
2) Occupation data are produced primarily based on a person's main employment relationship in the last week of the year.
3) Data on occupation remained unknown for around 3.9 per cent of all employed persons and for some 2.3 per cent of commuters in 2017.

Source: Employment Statistics, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Elina Mikkelä 029 551 2973, Juho Keva 029 551 3601, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Reviews

• 1. Ten most common occupational groups of employed persons, employed women and employed men in 2017 compared to 2012 (1.11.2019)
• 2. Professional differentiation among wage and salary earners and entrepreneurs in 2017 and 2012 (1.11.2019)

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Persons aged 18 to 74 that commute and who work in their municipality of residence, as well as shares in all jobs in the main categories of the Classification of Occupations 2010 in 2017 (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 2a. Most common occupations among commuters to Helsinki aged 18 to 74 at 3-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 and share of commuting persons of all jobs of Helsinki in 2017 by occupational groups (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 2b. Most common occupations among commuters to Tampere aged 18 to 74 at 3-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 and share of commuting persons of all jobs of Tampere in 2017 by occupational groups (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 2c. Most common occupations among commuters to Espoo aged 18 to 74 at 3-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 and share of commuting persons of all jobs of Espoo in 2017 by occupational groups (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 2d. Most common occupations among commuters to Vantaa aged 18 to 74 at 3-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 and share of commuting persons of all jobs of Vantaa in 2017 by occupational groups (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 2e. Most common occupations among commuters to Turku aged 18 to 74 at 3-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 and share of commuting persons of all jobs of Turku in 2017 by occupational groups (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 3a. Most common occupations among commuters aged 18 to 74 at 5-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 and share of commuting persons of all employed persons in 2017 by occupational groups (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 3b. Biggest shares of commuters aged 18 to 74 in occupational groups at 5-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 in 2017 (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 4a. Distribution of most common occupations of commuters aged 18 to 74 at 3-digit level of the Classification of Occupations 2010 by municipality in 2017 (1.11.2019)
• Appendix table 4b. Most common occupations among commuters at the 3-digit level of the AML 2010 and the share of commuters into the region of all jobs based on the municipality in which the job is located by municipality and occupational group in 2017 (1.11.2019)

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Updated 01.11.2019