Astonishing. At a generous avr 30mph that's knocking on three working weeks per annum timewise spent JUST DRIVING (and paying for) A CAR?????!!! If this is typical of UK no wonder our productivity is pants.
I have to say, if my job was relocating and it would require me to do 30k miles a year / 600 per week / 120 per day just to commute to work and back, then I'd be seriously looking at the maths involved, not to mention the drop in 'quality of life' from spending close on 4 hours a day commuting.
You reach a point where you're better off stacking shelves in a local supermarket.
A bit off-topic, but it may be related to why the OP is doing what they suggest.
The problem often comes (admitedly it depends upon where a career is generally lower-paid unskilled work or higher-paid skilled/proefessional work) when good jobs/employers are both not easy to come by or spot (I mean, as I've discovered many times at interviews, employers regularly lie through their teeth to to get you onboard, and many are far better at sales than they are at their normal day job [perhaps they're in the wrong job?]), or knowing whether staying in a job/moving jobs will work out from a job security pov - recessions aside, unless you are near top management in a firm, it isn't easy to see whether the firm or job is secure until it often too late.
As such, making a choice to up sticks and move home (which in itself can be very expensive) to be nearer to a job (new or existing [say if the firm relocated/amalgamated 2 offices]) can be a VERY risky business. I know of some firms that have been crying out for staff, but cannot fill positions because they are in very expensive (to live in) areas outside of large cities (e.g. some of the more outlying Shire county areas), whereby only top-ranked staff can just about afford to live there, thus many (including myself) regularly turn down opportunities to work there. The last thing many people want is to move home or job, only to find 3-6 months down the line the job/firm is rubbish or the workload is variable and you have to leave, putting financial secure in jepody.
Quite often as the OP's story says, many of us, especially over the last decade, feel we (through our personal and financial commitments) just cannot take the risks above, so end up staying put and having to endue long journeys to work because its a firm 'we know' and just put up with. The enduring effects of the economic crisis and recession have made 'social/career mobility' very low, and is likely a major contributor to many countries, including the UK, not doing far better now following the 'lifting' of the recession.
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