The share of U.S. jobs worked on-site dropped roughly 10 percentage points from 84% in 2019 to 74% in 2021, the first full year of the pandemic, according to the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).
Jobs worked some days on-site and other days from home — referred to as mixed or hybrid work — represented the smallest share of all jobs worked each year, but increased from around 4% in 2020 to 6% in 2021.
The share of jobs done exclusively from home (fully home-based jobs) roughly doubled from 11% of all jobs in 2019 to 23% in 2020, before declining to about 21% in 2021.
Jobs worked some days on-site and other days from home — referred to as mixed or hybrid work — represented the smallest share of all jobs worked each year, but increased from around 4% in 2020 to 6% in 2021.
The category of essential worker was created by the Department of Homeland Security to characterize workers employed in occupations considered vital to the continued operation of the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to DHS methodology, around 7 in 10 jobs overall were deemed essential in each survey year.
A significantly larger percentage of on-site jobs (compared to mixed and fully home-based jobs) were considered essential in 2019 through 2021. By 2021 roughly 75% of on-site jobs were classified as essential, compared to about 60% of hybrid and 61% of fully home-based jobs.
Other highlights of the table package include:
Work Schedule
Industry and Occupation
Recently released American Community Survey data shed some light on the effect of increased remote work on the commuting landscape since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2019-2021 SIPP Home-Based Workers Table Package offers substantial new detail on how home-based work has changed over the past few years.
All comparative statements in this report have undergone statistical testing and, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons are statistically significant at the 10% significance level.
Survey statistics are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. For further information on the source of the data and accuracy of the estimates, including standard errors and confidence intervals, refer to the SIPP website.
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