Remote work elevated for the primary time for the reason that pandemic

An annual survey from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released in June found that 35% of workers did some or all of their work at home in 2023, up from 34% in 2022. 

The data comes from a detailed study called the Annual Time Use Survey, which measures exactly how Americans spend their time. The survey includes leisure activities, household chores, and work lives—including where exactly they unfold. 

The fact that work from home rates ticked higher indicates that it has stabilized even amid growing calls to return to the office, moving from a pandemic-era necessity to a new professional reality. 

Overall, workers are much more likely to work from home now than they were before the pandemic. In 2019, just 24% of workers spent any time at all during the workweek at home. 

In 2020, when the pandemic struck, there was a massive surge in remote work, as all employees except those deemed essential, were shuttered indoors.

While BLS suspended its time use survey in 2020 because of the pandemic, separate data from a Gallup poll in April 2020 showed that 51% of employees worked fully remote.

When BLS resumed its data collection, its survey found that the rate of remote work, which included both hybrid and fully remote employees, was 38% in 2021.

This highlights another post-pandemic trend, which is that most remote work arrangements are hybrid with companies requiring at least some time in the office. 

These hybrid work schedules have become very popular. Meanwhile, the share of fully remote employees has been on a steady decline since the start of last year. That’s made the remaining fully remote jobs highly coveted, as top talent across all industries fight for these dwindling positions. 

One of the reasons employees value remote work so highly, to the point that some would prefer it over a promotion, is that it gives them the time to manage their own schedules. What that means specifically is that they often work fewer hours when they work from home. When people worked remotely they did so for an average of five hours a day compared to eight when they went into the office, according to the BLS data.  

As companies and academics further study remote work, trends about who it appeals to become more apparent. Women and people with disabilities are generally more attracted to remote work. The BLS report too seems to back up this trend, if only slightly, with 36% of women working remotely compared to 34% of men. Even though women work remotely more than men, doing so still comes with added burdens, as they end up doing even more of the household work than if they went into the office, according to a research paper from January 2023. 

On the other hand, in-person positions generally appeal to younger workers, who crave mentorship and enjoy the experience of going to the office. Still, they too want the option to work from home for at least a portion of the week.