Are Those Who Bring Work Home
Really Working Longer Hours?
Implications for BLS Productivity Measures
Lucy P. Eldridge
Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia
Dislaimer: The views expressed are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the policies of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Questions
 Who is bringing work home from the workplace
and why?
 Do workers who bring work home work longer
hours than those who only work in the
workplace?
 Does BLS’ nonfarm business sector productivity
measure capture unpaid work at home?
Literature on Time Use
 Michigan and Maryland time use
diaries
• Hamermesh (1990)
• Robinson and Bostrom (1994)
 ATUS
• Frazis and Stewart (2004)
 1999 New Zealand Time-Use Survey
• Callister and Dixon (2001)
Literature on Work at Home
 Home-based workers
• Census data - Oettinger (2004)
 Occasional telecommuters
• Canadian WES - Pabilonia (2005)
• 1997 CPS Work at Home Supplement
– Schroeder and Warren (2004)
Data Sources
 BLS Hours Worked for all Persons in the
Nonfarm Business Sector
 American Time Use Survey
 May CPS Supplement on Work Schedules
and Work at Home
BLS Hours Worked for all Persons in
Nonfarm Business Sector
 Primary of source of hours data is the Current
Employment Statistics (CES) survey
 Supplement with other information where CES data are
lacking, most importantly
» Estimate nonproduction/supervisory worker hours using a ratio
from the Current Population Survey (CPS)
» Convert CES hours-paid to an hours-at-work basis using
National Compensation Survey (NCS)
» Add hours for self-employed, government enterprise, and unpaid
family workers from CPS
Share of Nonfarm Business Sector Hours and
Employment, by Type of Worker: 2004
12%
19%
17%
12%
69%
Hours Worked
Production/Nonsupervisory Employees
Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees
Nonemployees
71%
Employment
American Time Use Survey (ATUS)
 2003 - 2005 time-use daily diaries
 Restrict sample to nonholiday weekday
diary days
 Hours worked constructed as sum of
minutes for main job, by location
ATUS: Bring Work Home Variable
 Report any minutes of work on their main
job at the workplace and at home on the
same day
 Salaried employees are more likely to
bring unpaid work home than workers who
are paid hourly
May CPS Supplement on Work
Schedules and Work at Home
(CPS Supplement)
 2001 and 2004
 All respondents from the May CPS are
asked supplement questions
 Questions about work schedules and work
at home
CPS Supplement:
Bring Work Home Variable
 “As part of this job do you do any of your
work at home?”
 “Do you have a formal arrangement with
your employer to be paid for the work that
you do at home or were you just taking
work home from the job?
Percent of Nonfarm Business Employees
by Location of Work
ATUS
CPS Supplement
2003
2004
2005
Work exclusively at
the workplace
85.1
85.0
83.9
Do any work at home
9.8
11.2
Work exclusively
at home
2.9
Bring work home
Salaried
Work at other
locations
No. of respondents
2001
2004
No work at home
87.5
88.2
11.7
Do any work at
home
12.5
11.8
3.6
4.1
Paid work at
home
3.8
3.6
6.3
6.8
7.0
Unpaid work at
home
8.7
8.2
4.9
4.2
5.1
5.1
3.8
4.4
3,438
2,251
1,698
34,406
39,632
Proportion Who Bring Work Home,
by Time of the Day Working at Home
(ATUS)
Minutes per day
<15
15-30
30-60
60-120
120-180
180-240
240+
Number of observations
2003
0.15
0.15
0.25
0.21
0.08
0.05
0.10
246
2004
0.17
0.20
0.29
0.16
0.09
0.05
0.04
175
2005
0.20
0.17
0.25
0.12
0.15
0.04
0.08
110
Percent Who Bring Unpaid Work
Home, by Frequency
(CPS Supplement)
2001
2004
at least once a week
71.1
73.3
at least every two weeks
13.1
11.7
at least once a month
9.7
9.6
less than once a month
6.1
5.5
Who is bringing work home?
More likely to be:
 Married
 Have a spouse that works
 At least a bachelor’s degree
 Management or professional occupations
 CPS Supplement only– a parent and older
Less likely to be:
 Black
 Hispanic
 ATUS only - paid hourly
 CPS Supplement only – female and work part-time
Probability of Bringing Home
Unpaid Work, by Education
2004 CPS
Supplement
ATUS Pooled
Data
Advanced degree
0.182***
0.219***
Bachelor’s degree
0.099***
0.180***
Some college
0.040***
0.111**
High school degree
0.014
0.072*
Significance levels: * =p<.10;**=p<.05;***=p<.01
Probability of Bringing Home Unpaid
Work, by Gender and Children
2004 CPS
Supplement
ATUS
Pooled Data
Female
-0.015***
-0.017
Any child
0.024***
0.015
Any child * female
-0.024***
-0.026
Youngest child aged 3-5
-0.005
0.005
Youngest child age 3-5 * female
0.024
-0.009
Youngest child aged 6-10
-0.014**
-0.014
Youngest child aged 6-10* female
0.018
0.113
Youngest child aged 11-18
-0.016***
-0.027
Youngest child aged 11-18 * female
0.031*
0.029
Significance levels: * =p<.10;**=p<.05;***=p<.01
Percent Who Bring Unpaid Work
Home, by Reason for Work at Home
2001
2004
59.5
56.0
4.0
3.5
24.0
28.8
Coordinate work schedule w/ personal or
family needs
Reduce commuting time or expense
4.8
4.7
1.3
1.2
Local transportation or pollution control
program
Some other reason
0.0
0.0
6.4
5.8
Finish or catch up on work
Business is conducted from home
Nature of the job
Do those who bring work home work longer hours?
ATUS: Production and nonsupervisory employees
2003
2004
2005
All
Workplace
Only
Bring
Unpaid Work
Home
Share of prod/nonsup
100.0%
87.3%
3.0%
Average weekly hours
37.13
37.15
38.05
8.04
8.15
8.85
office hours
7.65
8.15
7.02
Share of prod/nonsup
100.0%
86.4%
3.1%
Average weekly hours
36.75
36.74
42.85
8.00
8.14
8.69
office hours
7.53
8.14
7.20
Share of prod/nonsup
100.0%
86.4%
3.5%
Average weekly hours
37.47
37.20
42.28
Daily hours
7.98
8.12
8.97
7.59
8.12
7.33
Daily hours
Daily hours
office hours
Do those who bring work home work longer hours?
ATUS: Nonproduction and supervisory employees
2003
2004
2005
All
Workplace
Only
Bring
Unpaid Work
Home
Share of nonprod/sup
100.0%
76.9%
10.4%
Average weekly hours
42.48
41.85
48.25
Daily hours
8.60
8.77
9.95
office hours
7.95
8.77
8.37
Share of nonprod/sup
100.0%
80.5%
6.6%
Average weekly hours
42.55
42.03
47.08
Daily hours
8.49
8.58
9.42
office hours
7.71
8.58
7.89
Share of nonprod/sup
100.0%
75.1%
7.9%
Average weekly hours
42.53
41.75
45.76
Daily hours
8.18
8.60
9.39
7.61
8.60
7.68
office hours
Do those who bring work home work longer hours?
CPS Supplement
All
No work at
home
Bring
Unpaid Work
Home
Share of prod/nonsup
100.0%
91.3%
5.8%
Average weekly hours
36.43
36.00
42.54
Share of prod/nonsup
100.0%
91.7%
5.4%
Average weekly hours
36.14
35.78
41.85
Production/Supervisory Employees
2001
2004
Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees
2001
2004
Share of nonprod/sup
100.0%
72.8%
20.0%
Average weekly hours
41.71
40.61
46.60
Share of nonprod/sup
100.0%
72.9%
19.8%
Average weekly hours
41.75
40.76
46.12
Does BLS’ nonfarm business sector
productivity measure capture
unpaid work at home?
 Estimate percent of unmeasured hours for
production/nonsupervisory employees and
nonproduction/supervisory employees
Table 15: Percent of Unmeasured Hours in
Nonfarm Business Sector
Production/
Nonsupervisory
Employee Hours
ATUS
CPS
SUPPLEMENT
Unmeasured
Total Hours
Unmeasured
hours
Share
of
hours
worked
Unmeasured
hours
68.3%
0.59%
19.7%
0.64%
0.53%
2004
68.6%
0.61%
19.5%
0.70%
0.56%
2005
69.2%
0.68%
18.9%
0.78%
0.62%
2001
69.1%
0.84%
19.4%
0.81%
0.74%
2004
68.6%
0.83%
19.5%
0.82%
0.73%
2003
Share
of
hours
worked
Nonproduction/
Supervisory Employee
Hours
Share of Nonfarm Business Sector Hours and
Employment, by Type of Worker: 2004
12%
19%
17%
12%
69%
Hours Worked
Production/Nonsupervisory Employees
Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees
Nonemployees
71%
Employment
Table 15: Percent of Unmeasured Hours in
Nonfarm Business Sector
Production/
Nonsupervisory
Employee Hours
ATUS
CPS
SUPPLEMENT
Unmeasured
Total Hours
Unmeasured
hours
Share
of
hours
worked
Unmeasured
hours
68.3%
0.59%
19.7%
0.64%
0.53%
2004
68.6%
0.61%
19.5%
0.70%
0.56%
2005
69.2%
0.68%
18.9%
0.78%
0.62%
2001
69.1%
0.84%
19.4%
0.81%
0.74%
2004
68.6%
0.83%
19.5%
0.82%
0.73%
2003
Share
of
hours
worked
Nonproduction/
Supervisory Employee
Hours
Does BLS’ nonfarm business sector
productivity measure capture
unpaid work at home?
 Construct total adjusted hours for all
persons
 Compare trends in BLS measured hours
to adjusted hours series
Table 16: Annual Average Growth in Hours of all
Persons for the Nonfarm Business Sector
OPT
series
Alternative
Difference
Series
2003-2004
1.33%
1.36%
0.03%
2004-2005
1.45%
1.52%
0.06%
2003-2005
1.39%
1.44%
0.05%
CPS
2001-2004
SUPPLEMENT
-0.62%
-0.62%
0.00%
ATUS
Conclusions
 Highly-educated workers are more likely to
bring unpaid work home than lesseducated workers
 Fathers are more likely to bring work home
than men who have no children
 Worker tend to bring work home in order
to finish or catch up on work not
completed in the workplace
Conclusions
 Those who bring work home work more hours
than those who work exclusively in a
workplace
 The ATUS indicates that 0.5 to 0.6% of hours
are unmeasured due to work at home
 The CPS Supplement indicates a slightly
larger percent are unmeasured – 0.7%
 The ATUS shows a slight overstatement of
productivity growth while the CPS supplement
shows no overstatement