Job Flexibilities and Work Schedules News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Thursday, September 24, 2026                              USDL-26-1533

Technical information:  (202) 691-6339  *  atusinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/tus
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


                     JOB FLEXIBILITIES AND WORK SCHEDULES - 2024-2025
                         DATA FROM THE AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY


In 2024-25, 57 percent of workers had a flexible schedule in which they could vary the times
they began and ended work, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. About 34
percent of wage and salary workers (51 million) worked at home at least occasionally, and 28
percent of wage and salary workers had days they only worked at home. 

Data in this news release are averages of data collected throughout 2024 and 2025 from a
supplement to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), the 2024-25 Leave and Job Flexibilities
Module, and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau. Data on job
flexibilities and work schedules were collected directly from wage and salary workers,
excluding the self-employed. Estimates in this news release apply only to a person's sole or
main job. For individuals with more than one job, the main job is the job in which they
usually work the most hours. For more information about the ATUS Leave and Job Flexibilities
Module, see the Technical Note. 

Work at home in 2024-25

 --Fifty-six million wage and salary workers (37 percent) could work at home, and 51 million
   workers (34 percent) sometimes worked at home. Among those who worked at home, 33 percent
   did so because the job required it, 31 percent worked at home because of a personal
   preference, and 12 percent did so to coordinate their work schedule with personal or family
   needs. (See tables 1 and 2.) 

 --Of the 34 percent of wage and salary workers who worked at home at least occasionally, 89
   percent were paid for this work, 6 percent were not paid for this work, and 5 percent
   performed both paid and unpaid work at home. (See table 1.) 

 --Forty-two million workers--28 percent of all wage and salary workers--had days they only
   worked at home. Eighty-seven percent of these workers worked 1 day or more per week at
   home, and over one-third worked at home 5 or more days per week. (See table 3.)

 --Among wage and salary workers, women were more likely than men to work at home (35 percent,
   compared with 32 percent) and about equally likely to receive pay for this work (90 percent
   and 89 percent, respectively). (See table 1.)

 --Among those who worked at home, women were more likely than men to work at home because the
   job required working from home (35 percent, compared with 30 percent) and to coordinate
   their work schedule with personal or family needs (14 percent, compared with 10 percent).
   Men were more likely than women to work at home because of a personal preference (34
   percent, compared with 29 percent). (See table 2.)

 --Wage and salary workers who are Hispanic or Latino were less likely to work at home than
   workers who are not Hispanic or Latino (20 percent, compared with 37 percent). Workers who
   are Asian were more likely to work at home than workers who are White or Black (49 percent,
   compared with 33 percent and 28 percent, respectively). (See table 1.)

 --About 1 in 10 workers ages 15 to 24 worked at home at least occasionally. Workers 25 years
   and older were far more likely to work at home. (See table 1.) 

 --Among wage and salary workers, parents living with children under age 18 were more likely
   to work at home than workers who were not parents with children at home (38 percent,
   compared with 32 percent). Nineteen percent of parents who worked at home did so to
   coordinate their work schedule with their personal or family needs, compared to 8 percent
   of workers who were not parents with children at home. (See tables 1 and 2.) 

 --Workers with higher levels of education were more likely to perform work at home than were
   those who had less education. Among wage and salary workers age 25 and over, 57 percent of
   those with a bachelor's degree or higher worked at home at least occasionally, compared
   with 15 percent of workers with a high school diploma and no college. (See table 1.)

 --In 2024-25, over two-thirds of workers in management, business, and financial operations
   occupations sometimes worked at home. These workers were more likely to work at home than
   workers employed in other occupations. (See table 1.)

Flexible schedules in 2024-25

 --Fifty-seven percent of wage and salary workers had a flexible schedule in which they were
   able to vary the times they began and ended work. Of these workers, 36 percent were able to
   frequently change their schedule, 45 percent could do so occasionally, and 19 percent could
   vary their hours only rarely. (See table 4.)

 --Sixty-nine percent of wage and salary workers indicated it would not be difficult to take
   an hour or two off during work hours, 20 percent thought it would be somewhat difficult,
   and 11 percent said it would be very difficult. (See table 4.)

 --Men were more likely to have a flexible work schedule than women (58 percent, compared with
   55 percent). Men were also more likely to indicate it would not be difficult to take an
   hour or two off during work hours (72 percent, compared with 66 percent). (See table 4.)

 --While wage and salary workers in the public sector were less likely to have a flexible work
   schedule than those in the private sector (40 percent, compared with 60 percent), they were
   about equally likely to be able to take an hour or two off without difficulty (67 percent
   and 70 percent). (See table 4.)

 --Wage and salary workers who could work at home also had greater flexibility with their
   schedules and workdays. Those who could work at home were more likely to have a flexible
   schedule in which they could vary their start and stop times compared with those who could
   not work at home (78 percent, compared with 44 percent). They also were more likely to
   indicate it would not be difficult to take an hour or two off during work hours (86
   percent, compared with 59 percent). (See table 4.)

Advanced notice of work schedules in 2024-25

 --Among all wage and salary workers, 59 percent knew their work schedule four weeks or more
   in advance, and 9 percent learned their work schedule 1 day or less in advance.
   (See table 5.)

 --Men were twice as likely as women to learn their work schedule 1 day or less in advance--12
   percent, compared with 6 percent. (See table 5.)

 --Among wage and salary workers age 25 and over, those with less than a high school diploma
   were nearly three times as likely to learn their work schedule 1 day or less in advance
   compared to those with a bachelor's degree or higher (19 percent, compared with 7 percent).
   (See table 5.)

 --Thirty-six percent of wage and salary workers did not have a flexible work schedule and had
   employers who decided their schedule without their input. Of these workers, a majority (70
   percent) knew their schedule four weeks or more in advance, while 7 percent learned their
   work schedule 1 day or less in advance. (See table 6.)

 --A little over half of wage and salary workers in construction and extraction; production;
   and installation, maintenance, and repair occupations had no access to flexible work hours
   and had employers who decided their schedules. Of these workers, 28 percent of those in
   construction and extraction occupations learned their work schedule 1 day or less in
   advance. (See table 6.)

Shift work in 2024-25

 --Eighty-five percent of wage and salary workers worked a regular daytime schedule in
   2024-25. Fifteen percent of workers usually worked a non-daytime schedule, including 5
   percent of workers who worked evenings and 3 percent who worked nights. The remaining
   workers had a rotating shift, a split shift, an irregular schedule, or some other schedule.
   (See table 7.)

 --Among wage and salary workers who worked non-daytime hours, 37 percent did so because it
   was the nature of the job, 24 percent did so because of a personal preference, and 13
   percent worked these hours because they allowed for better arrangements for family. 
   (See table 8.)

 --Female workers were less likely than male workers to work non-daytime hours (13 percent,
   compared with 16 percent). Among those who worked non-daytime schedules, women were twice
   as likely as men to work these hours because they allowed for better arrangements for their
   families (18 percent, compared with 9 percent). (See tables 7 and 8.)

 --Among single jobholders, part-time wage and salary workers were almost twice as likely to
   work a non-daytime schedule as were full-time workers (23 percent, compared with 13
   percent). Among part-time workers, 12 percent worked an evening shift. (See table 7.)

 --Workers employed in the leisure and hospitality industry (40 percent), transportation and
   utilities industry (25 percent), and wholesale and retail trade industry (20 percent) were
   more likely to work a non-daytime schedule than workers in other industries. (See table 7.)

 --Sixty-eight percent of wage and salary workers usually worked Monday through Friday, and 8
   percent of workers usually worked on Saturday and Sunday. (See table 9.)

Additional Data

All ATUS 2024-25 data files, including the Leave and Job Flexibilities Module files, are
available for users to do their own tabulations and analyses. In accordance with BLS and
Census Bureau policies that protect the privacy of survey respondents, identifying information
does not appear on the data files. The 2024-25 data files are available on the BLS website at
www.bls.gov/tus/data.htm.


 ____________________________________________________________________________________________
|											     |
|                               Federal Government Shutdown				     |
|											     |
| Some agencies of the federal government--including the Bureau of Labor Statistics--were    |
| shut down or operating at reduced staffing levels from October 1, 2025, through November   |
| 12, 2025. 										     |
|											     |
| All American Time Use Survey (ATUS) operations were suspended from October 1 through	     |
| November 12. No call attempts were made, and no interviews were completed during the	     |
| shutdown. Because ATUS interviews are conducted every day and collect time diaries about   |
| "yesterday"--that is, the day prior to the interview day--there are no data for the	     |
| 2024-25 Leave and Job Flexibilities Module for September 30 through November 11, 2025.     |
| Data collection resumed on November 13, 2025. 					     |
|											     |
| Leave and Job Flexibilities estimates are generated using statistical weights. The method  |
| used to generate the Leave and Job Flexibilities Module weights differs from the method    |
| used for the ATUS weights. The sum of the module weights is equal to the number of 	     |
| person-days in the month for the population of wage and salary workers as a whole and for  |
| selected subpopulations of wage and salary workers. Because the data use monthly weights   |
| and no data were collected in October 2025, the estimates presented in this news release   |
| represent 12-month annual averages for 2024 and 11-month annual averages for 2025.	     |
|____________________________________________________________________________________________|

Technical Note

   The data in this news release were collected with a supplementary set of questions, the 2024-25 Leave
and Job Flexibilities Module, asked as part of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) in 2024 and 2025.
The ATUS--a continuous survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics--focuses on obtaining information about how individuals age 15 and over spend their
time. For more information about the survey, see the ATUS User's Guide at
www.bls.gov/tus/atususersguide.pdf. 
	
   The 2024-25 Leave and Job Flexibilities Module was sponsored by the Department of Labor's Women's
Bureau. The purpose of this module was to obtain information about workers' access to and use of 
leave, job flexibilities, and work schedules. The data in this news release pertain to wage and salary
workers and their main job. The data exclude all self-employed workers. Respondents to the 2024-25
Leave and Job Flexibilities Module answered questions about access to paid and unpaid leave, reasons
for taking leave, use of leave during the past 7 days, times when leave was needed but not taken,
shift work, advance notice of schedules, workers' control over their schedules, work-at-home
arrangements, and other related topics. There were about 6,600 respondents to the Leave and Job
Flexibilities Module in 2024-25.
	
   Data in this news release are about job flexibilities and work schedules. These data were collected
directly from wage and salary workers and thus represent workers' knowledge on these topics. 
Leave and Job Flexibilities Module data were collected from January 2024 through December 2025.
(Due to the federal government shutdown, no data for this module were collected from October 1, 2025,
to November 12, 2025.)  
	
   If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access
telecommunications relay services.

Questions and concepts

   The 2024-25 Leave and Job Flexibilities Module was introduced with the statement, "The next few 
questions are about paid and unpaid leave from a job." Following the introduction, respondents were
asked whether they receive paid leave at their main job and, if so, the reasons for which they can
take paid leave. Respondents were then asked about their ability to take leave without pay and
reasons for which they can take unpaid leave from their main job.

   Respondents with access to paid or unpaid leave were asked whether they had taken any leave during
the past 7 days. If they took leave, they were asked about the length and main reason for taking
leave.

   In the next set of questions, respondents were asked about how much flexibility they have in arranging
their work schedules. Respondents were asked if they can vary or change the times they begin and end
work. If able to do so, respondents were asked how often they can change these times. Workers unable
to vary the times they begin and end work were asked whether they have input into their work schedules.
Respondents were then asked how far in advance they know their work schedule.  

   Next, respondents were asked about the time of day they usually work. Those working a non-daytime
schedule were asked about the shift they usually work and the main reason why they work this shift. 

   Next, respondents were asked about the greatest number of hours they worked in a week and the fewest 
number of hours they worked in a week over the last month. Respondents were then asked how difficult
it would be to take an hour or two off during work hours to take care of personal or family matters.
Respondents were then asked on which days they usually work during the week.

   Next, respondents were asked if they can work at home. Respondents who indicated they can work at 
home were asked if they ever do work at home, if they are paid for the hours they work at home, and
the main reason they work at home. Those who were paid for the hours they work at home were asked
if they are required to work at home on a regular basis. Those who do work at home were asked if
there are days they work only at home and, if so, how often. 

   In the last section, respondents were asked if there were times during the past month in which they 
needed to take off from work but did not. If so, respondents were asked their reasons for needing to
take leave. Respondents with access to paid or unpaid leave were asked about their reasons for not
using leave. 

   The Leave and Job Flexibilities Module questionnaire is available at
www.bls.gov/tus/questionnaires/lvmquestionnaire2425.pdf.

Definitions

Employment and earnings

	--Employed. All people who:

	  1) At any time during the 7 days prior to the interview did any work at all as paid
	     employees, or worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm; or 

	  2) Were not working during the 7 days prior to the interview but had jobs or businesses
	     from which they were temporarily absent because of illness, bad weather, vacation,
	     childcare problems, labor-management disputes, maternity or paternity leave, job
	     training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for
	     the time off or were seeking other jobs; or

	  3) Usually worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a family-operated enterprise.

	--Employed full time. For the purpose of producing estimates related to job flexibility and
	  work schedules, full-time workers are single jobholders who usually worked 35 or more hours
	  per week.

	--Employed part time. For the purpose of producing estimates related to job flexibility and
	  work schedules, part-time workers are single jobholders who usually worked fewer than 35
	  hours per week.

	--Main job. For people holding more than one job, the questions in the Leave and Job Flexi-
	  bilities Module referred to the characteristics of their main job--the job in which they
	  usually worked the most hours. 

	--Wage and salary workers. These are workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips,
	  payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public
	  sectors. For the purpose of producing estimates related to job flexibility and work schedules,
	  wage and salary workers do not include any self-employed workers; this differs from the
	  annual ATUS news release, in which workers who are self-employed and whose businesses are
	  incorporated are classified as wage and salary workers.

	--Usual weekly earnings. Estimates represent the earnings of full-time wage and salary workers
	  with one job only, before taxes and other deductions.  

	--Weekly earnings quartiles. The ranges used for the quartiles represent approximately 25
	  percent of full-time wage and salary workers who held only one job. For example, 25 percent 
	  of full-time wage and salary workers with one job only had weekly earnings of $840 or less
	  in 2024 and 2025. Weekly earnings in the 25th to the 50th percentile range amounted to $841
	  to $1,250 in 2024 and $841 to $1,320 in 2025. Weekly earnings in the 50th to the 75th 
	  percentile range were $1,251 to $1,970 in 2024 and $1,321 to $2,020 in 2025. Those earning
	  greater than the 75th percentile had earnings of $1,971 and higher in 2024 and $2,021 and
	  higher in 2025. Earnings ranges were estimated using the 2024 and 2025 ATUS data.

Job flexibilities and work schedules

	--Work schedule flexibility. Respondents were asked "Do you have flexible work hours that
	  allow you to vary or make changes in the times you begin and end work?" Respondents were
	  identified as having work schedule flexibility if they answered "yes" to this question.

	--Workplace flexibility. Respondents were asked "As part of your job, can you work at home?"
	  or, for those with multiple jobs, "As part of your main job, can you work at home?" If
	  asked, respondents were instructed to include any other remote or off-site location where 
	  they chose to work when answering this question. Respondents were identified as having
	  workplace flexibility if they answered "yes" to one of these questions. 

	--Workers who did work at home. If respondents were identified as having workplace flexi-
	  bility, they were asked "Do you ever work at home?" Those who answered "yes" to this
	  question are classified as workers who did work at home.

	--Daytime schedule. The majority of time respondents worked was between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

	--Evening shift. The majority of time respondents worked was between 2 p.m. and midnight.

	--Night shift. The majority of time respondents worked was between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.

	--Rotating shift. Hours change periodically from days to evenings or nights.

	--Split shift. Hours consist of two distinct periods each day.

	--Usual days worked. Respondents were asked, "Which days of the week do you usually work?" or,
	  for those with multiple jobs, "Which days of the week do you usually work at your main job?"
	  Some respondents identified the days they usually worked and also said their schedule varies.

	--Variability of weekly work hours. Respondents were asked, "In the last month, what is the 
	  greatest number of hours you've worked in a week at your job? Include any extra hours, 
	  overtime, work you did at home, and so forth." They were then asked, "In the last month,
	  what is the fewest number of hours you've worked in a week at your [current/main] job? Do
	  not include weeks in which you missed work because of illness or vacation."
         
Comparability of the estimates

ATUS time-use data

   Estimates about work at home presented in this news release differ from estimates generated from other
surveys, including estimates on work at home presented in the annual ATUS news release.
       
   Data collected in the 2024-25 ATUS Leave and Job Flexibilities Module measure whether workers can and
do work at home at their main jobs, whether they are paid for this work, their reasons for working
at home, and their frequency of working at home. 
         
   By contrast, annual data from the ATUS provide measures about the population of workers who work at
home on a given day. These estimates are derived from data collected in the time diary. Workers who
sometimes work at home but did not report working at home in their one-day diary are not counted in
the estimates about work at home. Additionally, ATUS estimates about work at home include a mix of
both scheduled and unscheduled work. Reported work times may have been as short as one minute spent
checking a work email account to more than a 12-hour work shift.

2017-18 ATUS Leave and Job Flexibilities Module
 
   The 2024-25 Leave and Job Flexibilities Module questionnaire is very similar to the 2017-18 Leave 
and Job Flexibilities Module questionnaire. Some questions were dropped and some were added or
modified to obtain better information about the availability and use of flexible and alternative
work schedules. Unlike the 2017-18 Leave Module, the 2024-25 Module didn't include a question on 
whether workers' flexible work schedules are part of a formal program or policy offered by their
employer. The 2024-25 Module also didn't collect the number of days workers usually work at their
main job. 

   One question had a minor change.  An optional interviewer probe was added to the work-at-home question
to instruct respondents to include any other remote or off-site location where they choose to work.
This change was made to reflect the wide range of remote work arrangements.

   The 2024-25 Module included three additional questions that were not included in the 2017-18 Module.
These included a question to collect the greatest number of hours workers have worked at their jobs
during a week in the last month, the fewest number of hours workers have worked during a week in the
last month, and how difficult it would be for workers to take an hour or two off during a regular
workday to take care of family or personal matters. Response options for the question about advance
notice of work schedules were changed to capture shorter and more detailed information about work 
schedule notice. These questions were added or modified to provide additional information about the
instability of the workers' schedules and the ability of workers to take time off with little notice
if needed. 

2011 ATUS Leave Module

   The 2024-25 Leave and Job Flexibilities questionnaire is very similar to the 2017-18 Leave and Job
Flexibilities Module questionnaire, which was a re-designed and improved version of the 2011 Leave
Module questionnaire. In 2017-18, questions were added, dropped, and modified. The 2011 Leave
Module included some questions about workers' ability to adjust their work schedule or location 
instead of taking time off from work. In 2017-18, these questions were replaced with questions about
workers' usual schedules and their access to schedule and workplace flexibility. 

Employer-based surveys 

   Estimates of access to job flexibility that are derived from responses to household (or employee
-based) surveys may differ from estimates produced using establishment (or employer-based) surveys.
Establishment surveys often provide more detailed and specific data on employer policies, while
household surveys provide information about the experiences and characteristics of people and their
households. Household data from the 2024-25 Leave and Job Flexibilities Module allow researchers to 
examine job flexibilities in the context of workers' demographics, such as their sex, age, ethnicity,
education, and race. These data also provide insight into the reasons why people work at home and 
why they work non-daytime schedules when they do. In addition, employer-based surveys often measure 
the incidence of more formal arrangements between employers and their employees. The 2024-25 Leave
and Job Flexibilities Module captures both formal and informal arrangements governing access to job
flexibility.
        
Reliability of the estimates

   Statistics based on the ATUS Leave and Job Flexibilities Module are subject to both sampling and
nonsampling error. When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, estimates differ
from the true population values they represent. The component of this difference that occurs because
samples differ by chance is known as sampling error, and its variability is measured by the standard
error of the estimate.  

   Sample estimates from a given survey design are unbiased when an average of the estimates from 
all possible samples would yield, hypothetically, the true population value. In this case, the
sample estimate and its standard error can be used to construct approximate confidence intervals,
or ranges of values that include the true population value with known probabilities. If the 
process of selecting a sample from the population were repeated many times, an estimate made from 
each sample, and a suitable estimate of its standard error calculated for each sample, then
approximately 90 percent of the intervals from 1.645 standard errors below the estimate to 1.645
standard errors above the estimate would include the true population value. BLS analyses are 
generally conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence. 
        
   The ATUS Leave and Job Flexibilities Module data also are affected by nonsampling error, which is
the average difference between population and sample values for samples generated by a given 
process. Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment
of the population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample, inability or
unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the collection or
processing of the data.