No 2015/20 When and how does commuting to cities influence rural employment growth?

Abstract

Urban areas tend to grow in population and employment while most rural areas face decline. Earlier research suggests that well-growing rural areas benefit from urban proximity and more specifically from rural-to-urban commuting. Studies on local labor markets suggest that highly educated individuals earn more than other commuters and that they tend to travel over longer distances to work. This suggests that the impacts on growth differ for different parts of commuting labor. The aim of this paper is to combine these literatures and explore how rural employment growth is influenced by commuting and how far across space these effects reach.