are those who bring work home really working longer hours? implications for bls productivity...
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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 0.20
15-30 0.15 0.20 0.17
30-60 0.25 0.29 0.25
60-120 0.21 0.16 0.12
120-180 0.08 0.09 0.15
180-240 0.05 0.05 0.04
240+ 0.10 0.04 0.08
Number 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 56.0
Business is conducted from home 4.0 3.5
Nature of the job 24.0 28.8
Coordinate work schedule w/ personal or family needs
4.8 4.7
Reduce commuting time or expense 1.3 1.2
Local 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
Share of prod/nonsup 100.0% 86.4% 3.1%
Average weekly hours 36.75 36.74 42.85
Daily hours 8.00 8.14 8.69
office hours 7.53 8.14 7.20
2005
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
office hours 7.59 8.12 7.33
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%
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
2004
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
2005
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
office hours 7.61 8.60 7.68
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%
Average weekly hours 36.43 36.00 42.54
2004Share of prod/nonsup 100.0% 91.7% 5.4%
Average weekly hours 36.14 35.78 41.85
Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees
2001 Share of nonprod/sup 100.0% 72.8% 20.0%
Average weekly hours 41.71 40.61 46.60
2004Share 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
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
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