An official website of the United States government
United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information,
make sure you're on a federal government site.
The site is secure.
The
https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any
information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Office of Survey Methods Research
SHARE ON:
More Information
Published Year: 2007
Survey/Program(s): Productivity Measurement and Analysis: Proceedings from OECD workshops, Julien Dupont and Pierre Sollberger
Catalog: Economic Working Paper
WP Number: WP-406
Publication Status / Disposition: See Productivity Measurement and Analysis: Proceedings from OECD workshops, Julien Dupont and Pierre Sollberger (Eds.), Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 2008, pp 179-209.
Download PDF
Are Those Who Bring Work Home Really Working Longer Hours? Implications for BLS Productivity Measures
Abstract
An ongoing debate surrounding BLS productivity data is that official labor productivity measures may be overstating productivity growth because of an increase in unmeasured hours worked outside the traditional workplace. This paper uses both the ATUS and May CPS Work Schedules and Work at Home Supplements to determine whether the number of hours worked by nonfarm business employees are underestimated and increasing over time due to unmeasured hours worked at home. We find that 8 - 9 percent of nonfarm business employees bring some work home from the workplace. In addition, those who bring work home report working longer hours than those who work exclusively in a workplace, resulting in a 0.8 — 1.1 percent understatement of measured hours worked. However, we find no conclusive evidence that productivity trends were biased over the 1997-2005 period due to work brought home from the workplace.