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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.