1/ The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows how dramatically remote work has changed in recent years. The share of employed people working at home on days worked was relatively stable before the pandemic, then surged in 2021, and has since moderated but remained well above pre 2020 levels.
2/ From 2017 to 2019, roughly 23 to 24 percent of employed persons worked at home on days they worked. The trend was steady, with women consistently reporting higher rates than men. In 2019, 23.7 percent of workers overall worked from home on workdays, with 21.8 percent of men and 26.2 percent of women doing so. There was no sign of rapid structural change during this period.
3/ The inflection point came in 2021. Remote work jumped to 38.1 percent overall, reflecting pandemic driven workplace shifts. Women reached 41.5 percent while men reached 35.3 percent. This was not a minor fluctuation but a structural shock to workplace organization across sectors.
4/ By 2022 and 2023, the rate declined from the 2021 peak but did not return to pre pandemic levels. In 2023, 34.6 percent of workers still worked at home on days worked. This indicates that remote work shifted from emergency adaptation to a normalized component of labor arrangements.
5/ The gender gap also narrowed in 2023, with women at 35.9 percent and men at 33.5 percent. This convergence suggests that remote work adoption broadened across occupations rather than remaining concentrated in specific roles.
6/ Overall, the data reflect a durable structural change. Even after economic reopening, the baseline rate of working at home remains significantly higher than in the late 2010s, reinforcing the long term integration of remote work into the U.S. labor market.
Dataset
Data Sources
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024). American Time Use Survey — The Economics Daily: 35 percent of employed people did some or all of their work at home on days they worked in 2023.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/35-percent-of-employed-people-did-some-or-all-of-their-work-at-home-on-days-they-worked-in-2023.htm