Commuter composition
All of 97 percent of the commuters live in Sweden and work in Denmark. 48 percent of the commuters drive their cars over the bridge, while the rest travel by rail. Danes who have moved to Öresund SE choose to take their cars to work to a greater extent than Swedes do.
Even though most of the commuters live in Sweden, there are many Danes who also commute across Öresund. 37 percent of the Öresund commuters are Danes while 40 percent are Swedes. Others were born outside of Sweden and Denmark.- Commuters from Öresund SE to Öresund DK 2007
Source: Örestat. Map: Region Skåne
The large percentage of Danes is because the economic incentives to move to Sweden have been very strong up until the middle of 2007, when Danish housing prices began to drop. From 2005 onwards, Danish companies began to seriously recruit Swedish labour due to a labour shortage in Denmark. Due to the demographic development of Öresund DK and Öresund SE, it is expected that the labour supply will become a more serious problem on the Danish side of the sound than the Swedish one. Thus it is assumed that future commuting will be driven by labour market integration to an even greater extent and not as much by the housing market integration, as was the case in the years following the opening of the Öresund Bridge.
- Commuters from Öresund SE by place of residence and work 1999
Source: Örestat
- Commuters from Öresund SE by place of residence and work 2007
Source: Örestat
- Öresund commuters by country of residence
Source: Örestat. Footnote: 2008 and 2009 is predictive analyses by the Öresund Bridge
- Öresund commuters by country of birth
Source: Örestat
Geographic distribution of commuters from Øresund SE
The most important commuting flow from Öresund SE to Öresund DK has mainly developed between Southern Skåne and Öresund DK. While commuting from Southern Skåne to Öresund DK comprised 55 percent of all commuting in 1999, the corresponding figure in 2007 was an entire 81 percent.
Industrial breakdown among commuters from Öresund SE to Öresund DK.
The majority of Öresund’s commuters from Öresund SEe work in the Danish service sector. This reflects the structure of industry in the Copenhagen area, with a strong emphasis on business services, research and development (R&D) and trade. Trade and business services have seen especially strong increases in personnel from Öresund SE since 2000.
Before the bridge opened, many Swedes were employed in the transport industry. This was especially due to the Copenhagen airport having such great importance. However, the number of Swedes employed in the Danish transport industry has not increased as much as other industries; in 2007, leasing and real estate sales were the industries having the most Swedish employees. Compared to workplaces on both sides of Öresund, there are relatively many commuters coming from Öresund SE in trade, hotels and restaurants, transport and real estate, while there are relatively few in construction, public administration, teaching, and health and medical care.
78 percent of all commuters from the Swedish side are employed in the private sector, while the corresponding figure for commuters from the Danish side is 70 percent. It should be said that only 65 percent and 64 percent of workplaces on the Danish and Swedish sides respectively are in the private sector.
- Industrial breakdown among commuters from Öresund SE to Öresund DK, 1999 and 2007
Source: Örestat
Many commuters are highly educated. All of 65 percent of commuters who live in Denmark have a university education, while the educational competency differs somewhat with the commuters who live in Sweden, where 38 percent have a university education and 47 percent have an upper secondary education or vocational training. This can be compared to only about 30 percent of those aged 20-64 in both Öresund DK and in Öresund SE who have a university education.
- Educational level broken down by area of residence
Concerning commuters’ sex and age distribution, there are only two women to every third man who commute from Öresund SE to Öresund DK.
People in the youngest group aged 16-24 are commuting the most, and particularly the young women. These young people commute four times more often than gainfully employed persons aged 45-64 do.
