This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. ASSA Annual Meeting
  3. 2021
  4. Preliminary Program
  5. Working from Home
« Back to Results

Working from Home

Paper Session

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM (EST)

Hosted By: Society of Government Economists
  • Chair: Lucy Eldridge, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Telework, Wages, and Time Use in the United States

Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia
,
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Victoria Vernon
,
State University of New York-Empire State College

Abstract

Remote work is rapidly increasing in the US. Using data on full-time wage and salary workers from the 2017–2018 American Time Use Survey Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, we estimate hourly wage differentials between teleworkers and office workers and compare how teleworkers and office workers allocate their time on office days and work-at-home days. Using an econometric method that relates selection on observables with selection on unobservables, we find that some teleworkers earn a wage premium, but it varies by occupation, gender, parental status, and teleworking intensity. In all subsamples, male, but not female, home-based teleworkers earn a wage premium. Among occasional teleworkers, we find a wage premium for all subsamples with the exception of mothers and men without children. Using time diaries, we find that teleworkers spend less time on commuting and grooming activities but more time on leisure and household production activities and more time with family on work-at-home days than office days. We do not find differences in workers’ hours on average by telework status, but male teleworkers regardless of their work location on their diary day work slightly fewer minutes on weekday workdays than office workers.

How Many Jobs Can be Done at Home?

Jonathan Dingel
,
University of Chicago
Brent Neiman
,
University of Chicago

Abstract

Evaluating the economic impact of ``social distancing'' measures taken to arrest the spread of COVID-19 raises a fundamental question about the modern economy: how many jobs can be performed at home? We classify the feasibility of working at home for all occupations and merge this classification with occupational employment counts. We find that 37 percent of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home, with significant variation across cities and industries. Applying our occupational classifications to 85 other countries reveals that lower-income economies have a lower share of jobs that can be done at home.

COVID-19 and Remote Work: An Early Look at US Data

Daniel Rock
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Erik Brynjolfsson
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John Horton
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Adam Ozimek
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Garima Sharma
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract

We report the results of a nationally-representative sample of the US population during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey ran in two waves from April 1-5, 2020 and May 2-8, 2020. Of those employed pre-COVID-19, we find that about half are now working from home, including 35.2% who report they were commuting and recently switched to working from home. In addition, 10.1% report being laid-off or furloughed since the start of COVID-19. There is a strong negative relationship between the fraction in a state still commuting to work and the fraction working from home. We find that the share of people switching to remote work can be predicted by the incidence of COVID-19 and that younger people were more likely to switch to remote work. Furthermore, states with a higher share of employment in information work including management, professional and related occupations were more likely to shift toward working from home and had fewer people laid o or furloughed. We find no substantial change in results between the two waves.

Impacts of COVID-19 on the Self-employed

Charlene Marie Kalenkoski
,
Texas Tech University
Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia
,
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Abstract

This study examines the initial impacts of COVID-19 on the employment and hours of unincorporated self-employed workers using monthly panel data from the Current Population Survey. Random-effects and difference-in-difference-in-differences models are estimated and differential impacts by gender, marital status, and parental status are examined from February to May 2020. Among all workers, the unincorporated self-employed are disproportionately affected. In addition, although employment and hours decreased for all groups of unincorporated self-employed workers due to the response to the health threat posed by the pandemic, differential impacts exist. Married women and single men were less likely to be working than married men. In addition, fathers of school-age children worked relatively fewer hours compared to men without children. Remote work and working in an essential industry mitigated some of the negative effects on employment and hours. These results are useful for policymakers to understand how vulnerable the unincorporated self-employed are in a pandemic so they can tailor assistance to this group.
Discussant(s)
Amanda Pallais
,
Harvard University
Peter B. Meyer
,
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Kevin Rinz
,
U.S. Census Bureau
James R. Spletzer
,
U.S. Census Bureau
JEL Classifications
  • J0 - General