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‘I just couldn’t do that drive any more’: Woman left job due to three-hour commute on N7
(www.irishtimes.com)
What makes this Not The Onion to me is how normalized this story is. How did things get to this point? Would she be happy with a job that only had a 2.5 hour commute each way!? Maybe, and that is what makes it existentially funny to me.
For example, an increase in the commuting time for the average respondent by only 15 min would have to be compensated by a net wage increase of almost 12%.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537124001271
The analysis relies on data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By determining the average time people spend commuting in metro areas and the average hourly wage in those areas, the analysis calculates the dollar value of a worker's commuting time over a year.
Traffic may have been more manageable when they took the gig.
Or, maybe housing costs and limited jobs forced them into this position. I know a lot of people in my area live away from the urban center for more affordable housing, but they work in the urban center because that is where the job opportunities are.