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.
What’s really fascinating to me is that I hated our 35-40 minute commute, but now I drive even more and don’t mind it.
I took the early retirement and am now working as a real estate photographer. Yesterday I drove 120+ miles for a job. No problem. I’ve had several days with over 100 miles, no problem. Monday I’ll drive 50 miles for one job, then another 50 miles to another job, then 25 miles back home.
The differences are that it’s not rush hour, and it’s to different locations. It’s more like exploring the area. There will be jobs I’m not looking forward to, I’m sure, but so far I really enjoy it. I even enjoy the drive, which is something I haven’t done in many years.
My only concern is that my car is approaching it’s 30th birthday, but I haven’t had a single problem as a result of pressing it back into daily driver duties this way.
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Oh no my pension isn’t enough, I still need to work.