Ældre landlige samfunds struktur er blevet påvirket af både den progressive koncentration af beskæftigelse i færre og større enheder, af ændringen fra landbrug til industriel eller kommerciel beskæftigelse og af at arbejderne dagligt kan rejse længere, efterhånden som transporthastigheden forøges.
Elsewhere the practice is declining, and is only common among people living in the close proximity to their place of work (Vidakovic, 1980, Bentley & Bruce 1977). Similarly, the decline in agricultural employment and one person businesses has lead to a decline in the number of people who effectively work at home and report no travel to work. Both the progressive concentration of employment into fewer, larger, units, allied to a shift from agricultural to industrial and commercial employment, and the ability of workers to travel longer distances each day as the speed of transport increases, have affected the structure of older rural communities.