Job Flexibilities and Work Schedules Summary

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.	     |
|____________________________________________________________________________________________|