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The higher their education level, the more likely people born in the years 1980 to 1984 were to work for pay or profit in an average week from February to May 2021. At each level of education, men were more likely to work than women.
Educational attainment | Women | Men |
---|---|---|
Less than a high school diploma |
43.2% | 56.7% |
General Educational Development (GED) credential |
53.1 | 64.9 |
High school graduates, no college |
63.7 | 75.8 |
Some college or associate degree |
71.4 | 80.0 |
Bachelor's degree and higher |
84.5 | 93.9 |
About 43 percent of women with less than a high school diploma worked in an average week, compared with 85 percent of women with a bachelor's degree or higher level of education. Among men, 57 percent with less than a high school diploma worked in an average week during these months, compared with almost 94 percent of men with a bachelor's degree or higher.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some workers were encouraged to telework. Both men and women with higher levels of education were more likely to work from home at least some of the time than those with lower levels of education.
Amount of work done from home | Less than a high school diploma | General Educational Development (GED) credential | High school graduates, no college | Some college or associate degree | Bachelor's degree and higher |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Women |
|||||
None |
79.6% | 78.6% | 71.0% | 59.1% | 31.3% |
Some |
10.7 | 11.8 | 12.2 | 18.7 | 26.8 |
All |
9.6 | 9.6 | 16.9 | 22.2 | 41.8 |
Men |
|||||
None |
84.3 | 79.3 | 79.6 | 64.2 | 32.9 |
Some |
8.9 | 13.2 | 13.9 | 18.2 | 30.2 |
All |
6.7 | 7.5 | 6.5 | 17.6 | 36.9 |
About 69 percent of women and 67 percent of men with a bachelor's degree or higher level of educational attainment did some or all of their work at home in an average week from February to May 2021.
In contrast, about 80 percent of women, and 84 percent of men, with less than a high school diploma never worked from home during these months. Among high school graduates, 71 percent of women and 80 percent of men, did none of their work at home.
These data are from a special supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, part of the National Longitudinal Surveys program.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Educational attainment, employment, and working from home, February–May 2021 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/educational-attainment-employment-and-working-from-home-february-may-2021.htm (visited October 31, 2024).