For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, September 24, 2019	          USDL-19-1691

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 -- 2017-2018
		     DATA FROM THE AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY


In 2017-18, about 36 million wage and salary workers (25 percent) worked 
at home at least occasionally, and 15 percent of wage and salary workers 
had days they only worked at home, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 
reported today. Fifty-seven percent of workers had a flexible schedule in 
which they could vary the times they began and stopped working. 

Data in this news release are averages of data collected throughout 2017 and 
2018 from a supplement to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), the 2017-18 
Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, and sponsored by the 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 2017-18

   --Forty-two million wage and salary workers (29 percent) could work at 
     home, and 36 million workers (25 percent) sometimes worked at home. 
     Among those who worked at home, 24 percent did so because of a personal 
     preference, 23 percent worked at home to catch up on work, 22 percent 
     did so to coordinate their work schedule with personal or family needs, 
     and 16 percent did so because the job required it. (See tables 1 and 2.) 

   --Of the 25 percent of wage and salary workers who worked at home at least 
     occasionally, 67 percent were paid for this work, 21 percent were not 
     paid for this work, and 12 percent performed both paid and unpaid work 
     at home. (See table 1.) 

   --Twenty-one million workers--15 percent of all wage and salary 
     workers--had days they only worked at home. Just over one-half of these 
     workers worked one day or more per week at home, and about one-seventh
     worked at home five or more days per week. (See table 3.)

   --Among wage and salary workers, men and women were equally likely to 
     work at home (25 percent), and about equally likely to receive pay for 
     this work (67 percent and 66 percent, respectively). (See table 1.)

   --Among those who worked at home, women were more likely than men to work 
     at home to finish or catch up on work (26 percent, compared with 
     21 percent) and to coordinate their work schedule with personal or 
     family needs (25 percent, compared with 20 percent). Men were more 
     likely than women to work at home because of a personal preference 
     (27 percent, compared with 21 percent). (See table 2.)

   --Wage and salary workers who were Hispanic or Latino were less likely 
     to work at home than workers who were not Hispanic or Latino 
     (13 percent, compared with 27 percent). Blacks were less likely to 
     work at home than Whites or Asians (18 percent, compared with 26 percent 
     and 32 percent, respectively). (See table 1.)

   --About 1 in 20 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 (30 percent, compared with 22 percent). Of these 
     parents who worked at home, 29 percent did so to coordinate their work 
     schedule with their personal or family needs. (See tables 1 and 2.) 

   --Workers with advanced education were more likely to perform work at 
     home. Among wage and salary workers age 25 and over, 47 percent of those 
     with a bachelor's degree or higher worked at home at least occasionally, 
     compared with 9 percent of workers with only a high school diploma and 
     3 percent of workers with less than a high school diploma. (See table 1.)

   --In 2017-18, about one-half 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 2017-18

   --Fifty-seven percent of wage and salary workers had a flexible schedule 
     in which they were able to vary the times they began and stopped 
     working. Of these workers, 35 percent were able to frequently change 
     their schedule, 46 percent could do so occasionally, and 19 percent 
     could vary their hours only rarely. (See table 4.)

   --Of those workers who had a flexible schedule, 29 percent had a formal 
     arrangement with their employer that permitted this flexibility. Public 
     sector workers were more likely to have a formal policy governing this 
     arrangement than were private sector workers (44 percent, compared with 
     27 percent). (See table 4.) 

   --Women and men were about equally likely to have a flexible work schedule 
     (56 percent and 57 percent, respectively). Among workers with a flexible 
     schedule, women were more likely than men to have formal arrangements 
     allowing this flexibility (32 percent, compared with 27 percent). 
     (See table 4.)

   --Wage and salary workers who were Hispanic or Latino were less likely to 
     have a flexible work schedule than were workers who were not Hispanic or 
     Latino--50 percent, compared with 58 percent. Whites (57 percent), 
     Blacks (55 percent), and Asians (55 percent) were about equally likely 
     to have a flexible work schedule. (See table 4.)

Advanced notice of work schedules in 2017-18

   --Among all wage and salary workers, 55 percent knew their work 
     schedule four weeks or more in advance, and 19 percent learned their 
     work schedule less than one week in advance. 
     (See table 5.)

   --Men were more likely than women to learn their work schedule less than 
     one week in advance--24 percent, compared with 14 percent. (See table 5.)

   --Among wage and salary workers age 25 and over, 31 percent of workers 
     with less than a high school diploma learned their work schedule less 
     than one week in advance, compared with 14 percent of workers with a 
     bachelor's degree or higher. (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 (67 percent) knew their schedule 
     four weeks or more in advance, while 15 percent learned their work 
     schedule less than one week in advance. (See table 6.)

   --Fifty-seven percent of wage and salary workers in construction and 
     extraction occupations did not have a flexible work schedule and had
     employers who decided their schedule. Of these workers, 43 percent 
     learned their work schedule less than one week in advance. (See table 6.) 

Shift work in 2017-18

   --Eighty-four percent of wage and salary workers worked a regular 
     daytime schedule in 2017-18. Sixteen percent of workers usually worked 
     a non-daytime schedule, including 6 percent of workers who worked 
     evenings, and 4 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, 39 percent 
     did so because it was the nature of the job, 19 percent because of a 
     personal preference, and 12 percent worked these hours to allow time for 
     school or another job. (See table 8.)

   --Female workers were less likely than male workers to work non-daytime 
     hours--15 percent, compared with 18 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 
     (14 percent, compared with 7 percent). (See tables 7 and 8.)

   --Among single jobholders, part-time wage and salary workers were twice 
     as likely to work a non-daytime schedule as were full-time workers 
     (27 percent, compared with 14 percent). Among part-time workers, 14 
     percent worked an evening shift, 5 percent worked an irregular 
     schedule, and 4 percent worked a night shift. (See table 7.)

   --Workers employed in the leisure and hospitality industry (37 percent), 
     transportation and utilities industry (26 percent), and wholesale and 
     retail trade industry (25 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 9 percent of workers usually worked on Saturday 
     and Sunday. (See table 9.)

Additional Data

All ATUS 2017-18 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 2017-18 data files are available on the 
BLS website at www.bls.gov/tus/data.htm.