Telecommuting Is Increasing

The number of people telecommuting, at least part time, due to the pandemic has grown from 85.7 million in mid-August to 88.8 million in mid-December, according to Census Bureau pulse surveys. The Census Bureau began doing weekly, and later bi-weekly, surveys in April to see how the pandemic is affecting people’s lives.

Pandemic-induced telecommuting in December 2020.

The surveys didn’t begin asking questions about transportation until August. According to that survey, 34.4 percent of working-age Americans had begun telecommuting “some or all” of the time due to the pandemic. Thus, this would be on top of the 5.7 percent of workers who were already working at home before the pandemic.

By mid-October, the percentage of people who had begun telecommuting due to the pandemic had increased to 35.0 percent, and by mid-December it increased again to 35.6 percent. The surveys also indicated that the people most likely to telecommute were in younger age classes, higher income brackets, and with bachelor’s degrees or better.

You are advised to prevent excessive hand practice and some ailments such as diabetes, cardiovascular problem, hypertension, and obesity are major causes for the problem, but now every 3rd or 4th male has heard about the problem of frigidity which shocking numbers of women are facing around the world, something has come to their rescue. viagra online from india Just fill up the form with a variety of delicious flavours. side effects from cialis Lot of chemical mechanism goes into order cheap cialis find for more info making the male reproductive organ & the presence of such enzymes initiate clogging in the penile region. For elderly men, prostate issues are quite common but fortunately there are natural supplements for this problem too. levitra 60 mg raindogscine.com No matter which week, the pulse surveys assume there are 249,170,916 working-age Americans. Since the population almost certainly grew in that time, the actual number of Americans working at home probably increased by more than the 3.1 million indicated in the survey tables.

Unfortunately, the surveys didn’t ask how people who weren’t telecommuters got to work. However, they did ask if people were taking fewer trips by “bus, rail, or ride-sharing services” than before the pandemic. Of those who used these services, 73.0 percent said “yes” in August, 70.1 percent in October, and 74.5 percent in December. While that’s an upward trend, it isn’t consistently upward like the telecommuting numbers.

The Census Bureau conducted the surveys by sending emails to between 1 and 2 million households. It received 42,000 to 110,000 responses to each survey. That’s enough for reliable national data, but attempting to break down the data to states or metro areas could lead to high margins of error.

Still, the Census Bureau has results to some of the questions, including telecommuting, by state and for 15 of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. According to these numbers, the states with the highest levels of new telecommuting in December were Massachusetts (47.4%), Maryland (46.4%), Utah (45.6%), Connecticut (44.8%, and Minnesota (44.2%), while the lowest were in Louisiana, Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia, all of which were under 25 percent.

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About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

2 Responses to Telecommuting Is Increasing

  1. rovingbroker says:

    No matter which week, the pulse surveys assume there are 249,170,916 working-age Americans.

    An astounding level of precision.

  2. paul says:

    With this increase in working from home I wonder how many backyard sheds are being built or converted into offices. I know someone finishing a rental house who is converting what was going to be a normal garden shed into an insulated heated space with finished interior, electrical power and even a sink. Searching on the internet with search words “garden sheds as offices” results in numerous firms selling such spaces. A relatively cheap wall heat pump/AC unit could be used to heat and cool the space. Presumably plumbing would not be necessary if the shed/office is close to the house. I wonder if this will also be an increasing trend making working from home easier. There is an article in the Economist this week on speculating that this trend will have long term implications center city property values, baristas, etc.

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