Who are the typical commuters in the post-socialist metropolis? The case of Riga, Latvia

There have been important changes in the geographical mobility of the populations of post-socialist countries since the 1990s. Drawing on an extensive sample survey—the Geographic Mobility of the Labour Force survey conducted by the University of Latvia in 2006—this paper, examines the demographic and socio-economic differences between commuters and stayers in the suburbs, as well as commuting time. The results of the study indicate that people who have suburbanised over the past decade are much more likely to commute than stayers. We show that commuters to Riga differ from non-commuters with regard to most demographic and socio-economic variables. For instance, the probability of commuting is higher for the younger and more affluent suburban residents. Somewhat surprisingly, our analysis shows that there are no significant differences in commuting time between socio-demographic population groups.

► Commuting has significantly increased in the post-socialist metropolis. ► Suburbanisation is the major source of growing commuting. ► People with higher social status are more likely to commute than people with lower social status. ► Commuting time is not related to social status.