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 Hours Worked Employment Production/Nonsupervisory Employees Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees Nonemployees

American Time Use Survey (ATUS)  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 ATUSCPS Supplement Work exclusively at the workplace No work at home Do any work at home Do any work at home Work exclusively at home Paid work at home Bring work home Unpaid work at home Salaried Work at other locations No. of respondents 3,4382,2511,69834,40639,632

Proportion Who Bring Work Home, by Time of the Day Working at Home (ATUS) Minutes per day < Number of observations

Percent Who Bring Unpaid Work Home, by Frequency (CPS Supplement) at least once a week at least every two weeks at least once a month less than once a month6.15.5

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 degree0.182***0.219*** Bachelor’s degree0.099***0.180*** Some college0.040***0.111** High school degree * Significance levels: * =p<.10;**=p<.05;***=p<.01

2004 CPS Supplement ATUS Pooled Data Female *** Any child 0.024***0.015 Any child * female *** Youngest child aged Youngest child age 3-5 * female Youngest child aged ** Youngest child aged 6-10* female Youngest child aged *** Youngest child aged * 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 Finish or catch up on work Business is conducted from home Nature of the job Coordinate work schedule w/ personal or family needs Reduce commuting time or expense Local transportation or pollution control program 0.0 Some other reason6.45.8

Do those who bring work home work longer hours? ATUS: Production and nonsupervisory employees All Workplace Only Bring Unpaid Work Home 2003 Share of prod/nonsup100.0%87.3%3.0% Average weekly hours Daily hours office hours Share of prod/nonsup100.0%86.4%3.1% Average weekly hours Daily hours office hours Share of prod/nonsup100.0%86.4%3.5% Average weekly hours Daily hours office hours

Do those who bring work home work longer hours? ATUS: Nonproduction and supervisory employees All Workplace Only Bring Unpaid Work Home 2003 Share of nonprod/sup100.0%76.9%10.4% Average weekly hours Daily hours office hours Share of nonprod/sup100.0%80.5%6.6% Average weekly hours Daily hours office hours Share of nonprod/sup100.0%75.1%7.9% Average weekly hours Daily hours office hours

Do those who bring work home work longer hours? CPS Supplement Production/Supervisory EmployeesAll No work at home Bring Unpaid Work Home 2001 Share of prod/nonsup100.0%91.3%5.8% Average weekly hours Share of prod/nonsup100.0%91.7%5.4% Average weekly hours Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees 2001 Share of nonprod/sup100.0%72.8%20.0% Average weekly hours Share of nonprod/sup100.0%72.9%19.8% Average weekly hours

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 Hours Share of hours worked Unmeasured hours Share of hours worked Unmeasured hours ATUS %0.59%19.7%0.64%0.53% %0.61%19.5%0.70%0.56% %0.68%18.9%0.78%0.62% CPS SUPPLEMENT %0.84%19.4%0.81%0.74% %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 Hours Worked Employment Production/Nonsupervisory Employees Nonproduction/Supervisory Employees Nonemployees

Production/ Nonsupervisory Employee Hours Nonproduction/ Supervisory Employee Hours Unmeasured Total Hours Share of hours worked Unmeasured hours Share of hours worked Unmeasured hours ATUS %0.59%19.7%0.64%0.53% %0.61%19.5%0.70%0.56% %0.68%18.9%0.78%0.62% CPS SUPPLEMENT %0.84%19.4%0.81%0.74% %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 %1.36%0.03% %1.52%0.06% %1.44%0.05% CPS SUPPLEMENT % 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