What’s the state of cross-border commuting in the EU?

A recent report by Eurostat also illustrates the situation when it comes to daily labour movement between regions within countries

One of the great liberties of living in the European Union is the freedom of movement symbolized by the removal of border posts and the ability for EU citizens to settle and work in any of the member states without obstacles.

Sometimes, however, workers literally move daily for work across country borders due to a variety of factors, chief among which is the difference between the cost-of-living standards in the two countries. It ends up making more economic sense to get paid in a place with a stronger economy while spending the earned money in your place of residence.

A recent Eurostat report shows the number of commuters that work across the border of another EU state and in 2022, this amounted to 2.09 million people aged 15-64 years (1.1% of all employed). What’s more, this represents a slight increase compared to the numbers in 2021, when 1.94 million worked across state frontiers.

At the regional level, Luxembourg province in Belgium led with the highest share of commuters to a different country, accounting for 32%. It's followed by Trier in Germany at 18% and Lorraine in France at 14%. Franche-Comté in France and Vorarlberg in Austria, each with 10%, also registered relatively high percentages.

What about intra-country EU commuters?

In addition, the EU statistical office has compiled a picture of the commuter situation between regions within each member state. Similarly, economic differential factors cause internal labour mobility between cities and rural areas or regions with a more productive economic base vs such with lesser output.

More than 12.5 million people (6.4% of all employed) commuted to work from one region to another within their country of residence. This marked an increase of 4.4% compared with 2021 (12.0 million people).

The highest share of regional commuting in total employment was recorded in the Belgian province of Brabant Wallon (45%), followed by another Belgian province, Vlaams-Brabant (42%), Pest in Hungary (41%), the province of Namur in Belgium (38%), and the Austrian regions of Burgenland (36%) and Niederösterreich (29%).