New Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: The “Commute is Dead”

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ recently released results from the American Time Use Survey new data verified what many have already experienced, the “commute is dead” and “remote work is hear to stay”.

Working in May to December 2019 and 2020

Average time spent working declined by 17 minutes per day from 2019 to 2020, reflecting a decrease in the share of the population that was employed. On a given day in 2020, 39 percent of the population spent time working, compared with 43 percent of the population in 2019.

On days they worked, the amount of time employed persons spent working was about the same in 2019 and 2020–7.7 hours in 2019 and 7.6 hours in 2020.

As many employers expanded the use of telework, the percent of employed persons working at home on days they worked nearly doubled, rising from 22 percent in 2019 to 42 percent in 2020. On days they worked at home, employed persons did so for an average of 3.6 hours in 2019, compared with 5.8 hours in 2020. These averages include all time spent working at home, whether or not the work was done on a scheduled workday.

Both men and women were more likely to work at home on days they worked in 2020 compared with 2019. The percent of employed men who worked at home increased by 16 percentage points, from 20 percent in 2019 to 36 percent in 2020, while the percent of women increased by 23 percentage points, from 26 percent in 2019 to 49 percent in 2020.

Workers with higher levels of education were much more likely to work at home in 2020 than were those who had less education. Among workers age 25 and over, 65 percent of employed persons with a bachelor’s degree or higher worked at home on days they worked in 2020 (up from 37 percent in 2019), compared with 19 percent of employed persons whose highest level of education was a high school diploma (up from 13 percent in 2019).

By industry, from 2019 to 2020, there were large increases in the share of employed persons working at home on days worked for those employed in financial activities (up 40 percentage points); professional and business services (up 25 percentage points); and education and health services (up 23 percentage points). By contrast, there were smaller increases for workers in leisure and hospitality (up 8 percentage points); transportation and utilities (up 9 percentage points); wholesale and retail trade (up 10 percentage points); and manufacturing (up 11 percentage points).

Time Spent Traveling in May to December 2019 and 2020

Time spent traveling, such as commuting to work or driving to a store, declined by 26 minutes from an average of 1.2 hours per day in 2019 to 47 minutes per day in 2020. The share of individuals who spent time traveling on a given day declined 17 percentage points in 2020, from 84 percent in 2019 to 67 percent in 2020. Those who spent time traveling on a given day did so for a shorter duration (1.5 hours in 2019, compared with 1.2 hours in 2020).

Declines in the average time per day spent traveling were widespread in 2020. The average time spent traveling decreased for all race, ethnicity, sex, and age groups; households with and without children; and individuals who were employed and not employed.