That rationale never made sense, no matter how many times someone explained it. First, it only works if you get paid hourly. Then again, no one is paying you for your commuting time, whether its 1 hour or 5 minutes. Wait, if they are, it's usually for vehicle usage so an amount per km traveled. You're still arguing? Ok, well if you're a salary man, and you want to count commuting time, then it's the average of hours, so if your salary breaks down to $40/hr for 8 hrs/day, 5days/wk, then you need to factor in your commuting hours. 2 extra hours a day? Now your "work hours" are only worth $32/hr. In the end, it's a moot point cause your employer doesn't care how far or how close you live, they're still not paying you to commute. If you are self employed, well you're not really commuting anywhere unpaid since you should be factoring in travel costs into all your quotes!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
Hourly, salary, it doesn't matter, anything can be broken down to an hourly rate..
if you are choosing between 2 employment options of equal " opportunity/enjoyment/benefits etc", obviously if some of the variables are different in on scenario over another you would need to adjust accordingly. ;
job A is 1 min away, job B is 1 hr away, by car.
A pays $10k per year less.
Can anyone honestly say that the 2(hr/day)X5(days/week)X48 (weeks) = 480hrs of more free time is not worth more than $21/hr, and that's not even including gas/wear/mnt on your car?
if you value your time at more than $21/hr, which I do these days, I will choose the closer job with lower "pay", If you don't you will choose the job that pays more, but leaves you stuck in your car for 480hrs a year.
This is pretty basic Econimics. Economic goods, scarcity of resources.
I'm still hoping for the better paying job that is close to home, double winz.
Is there a Vancouver in Taiwan?! I had no idea!!
Nothing sums up my life's achievements like my stuffed corpse, suplexing a cougar.