Teleworking During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Nearly one-third of the nation's employed workers told the Bureau of Labor Statistics in June that they had teleworked or worked at home for pay at any time during the past four weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. This hefty figure does not include those who usually work from home or those who teleworked for a reason unrelated to the pandemic.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has added five questions to the monthly Current Population Survey, which collects the government's official employment data. The BLS first added the questions in May and plans to continue asking them each month for the foreseeable future. Besides teleworking, respondents are also being asked whether they are unable to work because their employer has closed or lost business, whether they are being paid if they are missing work, and whether the pandemic has prevented them from looking for a job.

The 31 percent who reported teleworking in June was little different from the 35 percent who said they had done so in May. The characteristics of those who are teleworking because of the pandemic are not surprising, but nevertheless striking. Teleworking rises steeply as education increases...

Percent of the employed who teleworked for pay in the past 4 weeks due to the coronavirus, by education, June 2020
  4.8% of those without a high school diploma
12.6% of high school graduates only
22.3% of those with some college
48.0% of those with a bachelor's degree
63.3% of those with a graduate degree

By race and Hispanic origin, Asians are far more likely to telework than other race and Hispanic origin groups. This is because Asians are the most educated workers and also the ones most likely to work in management and professional occupations. Hispanics are least likely to telework because they are the least-educated workers and also least likely to be managers or professionals...

Percent of the employed who teleworked for pay in the past 4 weeks due to the coronavirus, by race and Hispanic origin, June 2020
48.5% of Asians
30.8% of non-Hispanic whites
25.7% of Blacks
21.1% of Hispanics

By age, there are few differences in teleworking with one exception. Workers under age 25 are far less likely to telework (15 percent) than those aged 25 to 54 (35 percent) or  aged 55 or older (30 percent).

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Supplemental Data Measuring the Effects of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic on the Labor Market

25% of Workers Sometimes Work from Home

Remember when computers and the internet were going to revolutionize the world of work? The ability to work remotely would solve all sorts of social and economic problems—allowing parents to care for young children, saving workers the time and expense of commuting, and lowering the cost of office space for employers. We're still waiting...

Wage and salary workers by work-at-home status, 2017–18
Total wage and salary workers: 100.0%
Workers who occasionally worked at home: 24.8%
Workers with days worked exclusively at home: 14.7%
Workers who worked exclusively at home at least one day per week: 8.0%

While 25 percent of wage and salary workers occasionally worked at home during the 2017–18 time period, according to the American Time Use Survey, many were just finishing up office work after hours. Only 15 percent of wage and salary workers spent a day working exclusively from home, and just 8 percent worked at home exclusively at least one day per week.

Why haven't computers and the internet created a sizable work-at-home labor force? Parents found out it was too hard to manage child care and job duties at the same time. Workers discovered face time at the office was worth the hassle of the commute. Employers grew weary of remote management. For whatever reason, working at home has not turned out to be as popular as once predicted. Of those who occasionally worked at home in 2017–18, the 56 percent majority did so primarily for personal reasons—it was their preference, they were trying to fit work in with personal or family needs, or they wanted to reduce commuting costs. But a substantial 43 percent worked at home primarily out of necessity—they had to catch up on work, their employer required it, or bad weather kept them at home.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Flexibilities and Work Schedules—2017–2018 Data from the American Time Use Survey

Driving Alone to Work: Top and Bottom Metros

Most Americans drive alone to work, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Nationwide, the percentage of workers aged 16 or older who commute alone in an automobile stood at 76 percent in 2017. The figure varies by metropolitan area.

The five metros with the most lone drivers
The five metropolitan areas with the largest share of lone drivers are all in the South: Dothan, AL (89 percent); Wheeling, WV (89 percent); Owensboro, KY (88 percent); Huntsville, AL (88 percent); and Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL (88 percent). One reason for these above-average figures is a lack of public transportation. The percentage of workers in these metros who use public transportation to get to work ranges from 0.0 to 0.5 percent.

The five metros with the fewest lone drivers
All five metropolitan areas with the smallest share of lone drivers are in the Northeast or West: New York (50 percent); San Francisco (57 percent); Ithaca, NY (58 percent); Boulder, CO (64 percent); and Corvallis, OR (66 percent). In New York and San Francisco, the availability and popularity of public transportation is the biggest factor reducing the percentage of workers who drive alone. In the New York metro, 31 percent of workers commute on public transportation. In San Francisco, the figure is 17 percent. Among metropolitan areas, New York and San Francisco are the ones with the highest use of public transportation.

Driving to work alone is relatively low in the other three metropolitan areas for different reasons.

• Ithaca, NY, distinguishes itself as the metropolitan area with the largest share of workers who walk to work—12.5 percent did so in 2017. Additionally, a relatively large 10 percent of Ithaca workers work at home. 
• Boulder, CO, is the metropolitan area with the largest share of workers who work at home—13.6 percent. Also, Boulder ranks second among metropolitan areas in the percentage of workers who commute to work by bicycle (4.6 percent). 
• Corvallis, OR, is the metropolitan area with the largest share of workers who bicycle to work—6.8 percent in 2017. Additionally, it has a relatively large share of workers who walk to work (7.6 percent) or who work at home (8.7 percent). 

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the 2017 American Community Survey

37% of Workers Have Telecommuted

Thirty-seven percent of American workers have ever telecommuted, according to a Gallup survey. Telecommuting is defined as working from home using a computer to communicate for a job. This is the highest level of telecommuting recorded by Gallup and far above the 9 percent who ever telecommuted the first time Gallup asked the question in 1995.

Workers who have ever telecommuted typically do so a median of three days a month. But 24 percent say they telecommute more than 10 days a month—or at least half of their work days.

Source: Gallup, In U.S., Telecommuting for Work Climbs to 37%

Who Works at Home?

Overall, 23 percent of employed Americans work at home on an average work day. The figure is about the same for men and women and for full- and part-time workers. By educational attainment, however, there are big differences in who works at home...

Percent of employed who work at home on an average work day
11.5% of those with less than a high school diploma
13.8% of those with a high school diploma only
17.5% of those with some college or an associate's degree
39.1% of those with a bachelor's degree or more

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey—2014 Results