Lucy P. Eldridge Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia

Are Those Who Bring Work Home Really Working Longer Hours? Implications for BLS Productivity Measures

Lucy P. EldridgeSabrina 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%

17%

71%

Hours Worked Employment

Production/Nonsupervisory EmployeesNonproduction/Supervisory EmployeesNonemployees

19%

69%

12%

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 2001 2004

Work exclusively at the workplace

85.1 85.0 83.9 No work at home 87.5 88.2

Do any work at home 9.8 11.2 11.7 Do any work at home

12.5 11.8

Work exclusively at home

2.9 3.6 4.1 Paid work at home

3.8 3.6

Bring work home 6.3 6.8 7.0 Unpaid work at home

8.7 8.2

Salaried 4.9 4.2 5.1

Work at other locations

5.1 3.8 4.4

No. of respondents 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 2003 2004 2005<15 0.15 0.17 0.2015-30 0.15 0.20 0.1730-60 0.25 0.29 0.2560-120 0.21 0.16 0.12120-180 0.08 0.09 0.15180-240 0.05 0.05 0.04240+ 0.10 0.04 0.08Number of observations 246 175 110

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

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

Probability of Bringing Home Unpaid Work, by Gender and Children

Percent Who Bring Unpaid Work Home, by Reason for Work at Home

2001 2004Finish or catch up on work 59.5 56.0Business is conducted from home 4.0 3.5

Nature of the job 24.0 28.8Coordinate work schedule w/ personal or family needs

4.8 4.7

Reduce commuting time or expense 1.3 1.2Local transportation or pollution control program

0.0 0.0

Some other reason 6.4 5.8

Do those who bring work home work longer hours?ATUS: Production and nonsupervisory employees

AllWorkplace

Only

Bring Unpaid Work

Home

2003

Share of prod/nonsup 100.0% 87.3% 3.0%

Average weekly hours 37.13 37.15 38.05

Daily hours 8.04 8.15 8.85

office hours 7.65 8.15 7.02

2004



Daily hours 8.00 8.14 8.69


2005



Daily hours 7.98 8.12 8.97


Do those who bring work home work longer hours?ATUS: Nonproduction and supervisory employees

AllWorkplace

Only

Bring Unpaid Work

Home

2003

Share of nonprod/sup 100.0% 76.9% 10.4%


Daily hours 8.60 8.77 9.95


2004



Daily hours 8.49 8.58 9.42


2005



Daily hours 8.18 8.60 9.39


Do those who bring work home work longer hours?CPS Supplement

Production/Supervisory Employees AllNo work at

home

Bring Unpaid Work

Home

2001Share of prod/nonsup 100.0% 91.3% 5.8%


2004Share of prod/nonsup 100.0% 91.7% 5.4%


Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees

2001 Share of nonprod/sup 100.0% 72.8% 20.0%


2004 Share of nonprod/sup 100.0% 72.9% 19.8%


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

Production/Nonsupervisory Employee Hours

Nonproduction/Supervisory Employee

Hours Unmeasured Total HoursShare

of hours

worked

Unmeasured hours

Share of

hours worked

Unmeasured hours

ATUS

2003 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%

CPSSUPPLEMENT

2001 69.1% 0.84% 19.4% 0.81% 0.74%

2004 68.6% 0.83% 19.5% 0.82% 0.73%

Table 15: Percent of Unmeasured Hours in Nonfarm Business Sector

Share of Nonfarm Business Sector Hours and Employment, by Type of Worker: 2004

12%

17%

71%

Hours Worked Employment

Production/Nonsupervisory EmployeesNonproduction/Supervisory EmployeesNonemployees

19%

69%

12%

Production/Nonsupervisory Employee Hours

Nonproduction/Supervisory Employee

HoursUnmeasured Total HoursShare

of hours

worked

Unmeasured hours

Share of

hours worked

Unmeasured hours

ATUS

2003 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%

CPSSUPPLEMENT

2001 69.1% 0.84% 19.4% 0.81% 0.74%

2004 68.6% 0.83% 19.5% 0.82% 0.73%

Table 15: Percent of Unmeasured Hours in Nonfarm Business Sector

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 Series Difference

ATUS

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 SUPPLEMENT 2001-2004 -0.62% -0.62% 0.00%

Conclusions Highly-educated workers are more likely to

bring unpaid work home than less-educated 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

Documents

Lucy P. Eldridge Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia