Teleworking and lost work during the pandemic: new evidence from the CPS

To measure the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics added questions to the Current Population Survey, the main U.S. labor force survey, starting in May 2020. This article analyzes the results from questions asking people (1) whether they teleworked be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly Labor Review 2021-07, p.1-15
Main Authors: Dey, Matthew, Frazis, Harley, Piccone, David S., Loewenstein, Mark A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Career Information Systems
Classification
Classification schemes
Coronavirus infections
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Distance Education
Economic indicators
Educational attainment
Electronic Mail
Employers
Employment
Employment Statistics
High School Students
Information Networks
Labor force
Labor supply
Labour force
Medical Services
Middle Schools
Occupational Information
Occupations
Pandemics
Secondary Schools
Special Education Teachers
Telecommuting
Teleworking
Trends
Unemployment
Wages
Wages & salaries
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Summary:To measure the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics added questions to the Current Population Survey, the main U.S. labor force survey, starting in May 2020. This article analyzes the results from questions asking people (1) whether they teleworked because of the pandemic and (2) whether they were unable to work because their employers closed or lost business because of the pandemic. We use the data on telework to refine work completed earlier in the pandemic that classified occupations on their suitability for telework. We then apply the revised classification to examine trends in telework and the extent to which working in an occupation suitable for telework shields workers from unemployment. Our results show that the pandemic resulted in a large increase in teleworking, with 33 percent of U.S. workers reporting teleworking because of the coronavirus in the period May-June 2020, before declining to a still substantial 22 percent in the fourth quarter. Rates of lost work varied widely both by an occupation’s suitability for telework and by demographic category.
ISSN:0098-1818
1937-4658
1937-4658
DOI:10.21916/mlr.2021.15