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

1. 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.

2. 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?

3. 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)

4. 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)

5. 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

6. 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

7. Share of Nonfarm Business Sector Hours and Employment, by Type of Worker: 2004 Hours Worked Employment Production/Nonsupervisory Employees Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees Nonemployees

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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?

13. Proportion Who Bring Work Home, by Time of the Day Working at Home(ATUS)

14. Percent Who Bring Unpaid Work Home, by Frequency (CPS Supplement)

15. 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

16. Probability of Bringing Home Unpaid Work, by Education

17. Probability of Bringing Home Unpaid Work, by Gender and Children

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

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

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

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

22. 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

23. Table 15: Percent of Unmeasured Hours in Nonfarm Business Sector

24. Share of Nonfarm Business Sector Hours and Employment, by Type of Worker: 2004 Hours Worked Employment Production/Nonsupervisory Employees Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees Nonemployees

25. Table 15: Percent of Unmeasured Hours in Nonfarm Business Sector

26. 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

28. 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

29. 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