The variety of Canadians commuting to work rose for the fourth yr in a row, a Statistics Canada report mentioned Tuesday, as hybrid employees are more and more spending extra time within the office than at dwelling.
The company mentioned these largely working from dwelling amounted to 17.4 per cent of employed individuals in contrast with 18.7 per cent in Could 2024.
Those that labored solely exterior the house totalled 77.6 per cent in Could, up one proportion level from a yr earlier, the report mentioned. The proportion of hybrid employees who labored each at dwelling and out of doors their dwelling was 5.1 in Could, up from 4.8 per cent.
The company mentioned the Ottawa-Gatineau space noticed the largest leap in commuters this yr — up almost 10 per cent — and its commuter ranges at the moment are on par with Toronto at 76 per cent.
Car use remained dominant however declined barely, as Statistics Canada mentioned the share of commuters primarily utilizing a automotive, truck or van to get to work fell to 80.9 per cent in Could in contrast with 81.5 per cent a yr earlier.
Public transit commuters rose to 11.9 per cent from 11.4 per cent, it mentioned, whereas these strolling or biking to work accounted for six.2 per cent of commuters, up from 6 per cent a yr earlier.
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Those that took public transit had the longest common commute at 44 minutes, the report mentioned, whereas those that drove to work had a 25-minute commute on common. Those that walked or cycled to work averaged a 15-minute commute.
Toronto continued to have the longest common commute amongst main cities, reaching 34.9 minutes, the report mentioned.
StatCan additionally reported that racialized populations have longer common commute occasions and usually tend to take public transit as they have a tendency to dwell in bigger cities with site visitors congestion.
South Asian, Black and Chinese language commuters spent a median of half-hour travelling to work, in contrast with non-racialized, non-Indigenous commuters who averaged 25-minute commutes. The report additionally mentioned West Asian, South Asian and Latin American teams had “significantly larger” charges of commutes which might be an hour or longer in comparison with non-racialized, non-Indigenous commuters.
Tuesday’s report comes after some non-public sector firms, together with a number of Canadian banks, introduced that staff could be required to spend extra time on the workplace.
The Ontario authorities additionally made an analogous transfer earlier this month, saying that its public servants will probably be required to return to the workplace full time, with staff going in-person 5 days every week by January 2026.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
