Productivity, Sustainability, and Economic Growth in Metropolises: Estimates of Long-Time Commuting Effects in Developing Countries

Abstract

Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the long-time commuting patterns of workers in the developing world, observing metropolises’ samples. The main question to be answered was whether there is scope for labor policy changes towards reducing long-time commuting to obtain productivity gains based on life quality improvements. Theoretical background: Although previous research indicates the presence of symmetric patterns in the developing world, specifically in long-time commuting, there is still a gap in checking the possibilities for labor productivity growth as a consequence of worker´s life quality improvement. Methodology: In this study, we observed six of the biggest metropolises located in very different geographic regions – New Delhi (India), Mexico City (Mexico), São Paulo (Brazil), Manilla (Philippines), Nairobi (Kenya), and Accra (Ghana). Simple random samples of workers in the Metropolitan Areas were surveyed electronically, by ‘Google-Forms e-survey’ during the second half of 2019. Considering error margins below 5 percentage points and with a 95 percent point confidence level, the authors used proportion (p) sample distributions to draw inferences about the population of workers. Results and conclusion: The results showed that long-time commuters are between 12 and 26 percent of the workers. More than 65 percent of workers in all the cities were interested in reducing commuting time. More than half of the workers agreed that reducing commuting time could improve labor productivity, and the same share is aware of the negative effects on quality of life and health. Labor policy changes in these six metropolises have the potential to affect more than 6.5 million workers. Research implications: The study advances in verifying the long-time commuting patterns and consequences, opening doors for labor policy changes towards gaining productivity by reducing time spent commuting, as previous literature has partially done. Originality/value: The approach of the work and its results contribute to expanding empirical research related to the assumptions of labor productivity growth based on life quality improvements.