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Time spent working in 2012

July 16, 2013

In 2012, employed persons worked an average of 7.7 hours on the days they worked. More hours were worked, on average, on weekdays than on weekend days—8.0 hours compared with 5.7 hours. Many more people worked on weekdays than on weekend days—83 percent of employed persons worked on an average weekday, compared with 34 percent on an average weekend day.

Average number of hours employed persons spent working on days worked, by sex and day of week, 2012 annual averages
CharacteristicAverage hours of work
Employed persons who worked on an average dayEmployed persons who worked on an average weekdayEmployed persons who worked on an average Saturday, Sunday, and holiday

Total, 15 years and older

7.657.975.71

Men

8.078.445.90

Women

7.167.445.48

On the days they worked, employed men worked 55 minutes more than employed women. This difference partly reflects women’s greater likelihood of working part time. 

On the days they worked, 85 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at their workplace and 23 percent did some or all of their work at home. They spent more time working at the workplace than at home—7.9 hours compared with 3.0 hours. Also, 22 percent of full-time workers did some or all of their work at home on days they worked, compared with 27 percent of part-time workers.

Percent of employed persons who worked at their workplace and at home on days worked, by full- and part-time status and class of worker, 2012 annual averages
CharacteristicPercent of those who worked
Employed persons who worked at their workplace on an average dayEmployed persons who worked at home on an average day

Full- and part-time status

  

Total, 15 years and older

84.523.2

Full-time workers

86.822.3

Part-time workers

74.827.3

Class of worker

  

Wage and salary workers

87.419.7

Self-employed workers

53.256.1

Self-employed workers were nearly three times more likely than wage and salary workers to have done some work at home on days worked—56 percent compared with 20 percent.

These data are from the American Time Use Survey. For more information, see "American Time Use Survey — 2012 Results" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑13‑1178. "Working at home" includes any time persons did work at home and is not restricted to persons whose usual workplace is their home.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Time spent working in 2012 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130716.htm (visited March 19, 2024).

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