Working Paper: NBER ID: w30866
Authors: Cevat Giray Aksoy; Jose Maria Barrero; Nicholas Bloom; Steven J. Davis; Mathias Dolls; Pablo Zarate
Abstract: We quantify the commute time savings associated with work from home, drawing on data for 27 countries. The average daily time savings when working from home is 72 minutes in our sample. We estimate that work from home saved about two hours per week per worker in 2021 and 2022, and that it will save about one hour per week per worker after the pandemic ends. Workers allocate 40 percent of their time savings to their jobs and about 11 percent to caregiving activities. People living with children allocate more of their time savings to caregiving.
Keywords: working from home; commute time savings; labor market; time allocation
JEL Codes: D10; J22; L23; R41
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Working from Home (WFH) (J29) | Commute Time Savings (R41) |
| Working from Home (WFH) (J29) | Increased Productivity (O49) |
| Commute Time Savings (R41) | Increased Time Allocated to Work (J29) |
| Demographic Factors (J11) | Variations in Time Allocation (J29) |