Commuting in America 2021 - Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work

Page created by Johnnie Harmon
 
CONTINUE READING
Commuting in America 2021 - Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work
Commuting in America                                              2021
The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends

                                   Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work
Commuting in America 2021 - Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work
About the AASHTO Census Transportation Planning Products Program
                 Established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and
                 the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), the AASHTO Census Transportation Planning Products
                 Program (CTPP) compiles census data on demographic characteristics, home and work locations, and journey-
                 to-work travel flows to assist with a variety of state, regional, and local transportation policy and planning
                 efforts. CTPP also supports corridor and project studies, environmental analyses, and emergency operations
                 management, and many other efforts.

                      In 1990, 2000, 2006, 2013, and again in 2019, AASHTO partnered with all of the states on a project to sup-
                 port the development of special census products and data tabulations for transportation. These census transpor-
                 tation data packages have proved invaluable in understanding characteristics about where people live and work,
                 their journey-to-work commuting patterns, and the modes they use for getting to work. In 2012, the CTPP was
                 established as an ongoing technical service program of AASHTO.

                      CTPP provides a number of primary services:
                       • Special Data Tabulation from the U.S. Census Bureau—CTPP oversees the specification, purchase,
                         and delivery of this special tabulation designed by and for transportation planners.
                       • Outreach and Training—The CTPP team provides training on data and data issues in many formats,
                         from live briefings and presentations to hands-on, full-day courses. The team has also created a number
                         of electronic sources of training, from e-learning to recorded webinars to downloadable presentations.
                       • Technical Support—CTPP provides limited direct technical support for solving data issues; the pro-
                         gram also maintains a robust listserv where many issues are discussed, dissected, and resolved by the
                         CTPP community.
                       • Research—CTPP staff and board members routinely generate problem statements to solicit research on
                         data issues; additionally, CTPP has funded its own research efforts. Total research generated or funded
                         by the current CTPP since 2006 is in excess of $1 million.

                 Staff
                  • Penelope Weinberger, CTPP Program Manager
                  • Matt Hardy, Program Director, Policy and Planning
                  • Joung Lee, Director of Policy and Government Relations

                 Brief Team
                  • Nancy McGuckin, Author, Investigator
                 Panel
                  • Phil Mescher, IA DOT
                  • Guy Rousseau, ARC
                  • Jessie Jones, AR DOT
                  • Joe Hausman, FHWA
                  • Thomas Hill, FDOT
                  • Elizabeth Robbins, WSDOT
                  • Clara Reschovsky, BTS
                  • Krishnan Viswanathan, Cambridge Systematics

                 Contact
                 Penelope Weinberger, e-mail: pweinberger@aashto.org, phone: 202-624-3556; or CTPPinfo@aashto.org

                 © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
                 All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.

                 Pub Code: CA01-5                                                                        ISBN: 978-1-56051-766-5

© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Brief 21.1.                                                                                                                                Commuting in
The Changing Nature of Work                                                                                                                America 2021

           Purpose
           The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the nature of work in the United
           States. Essential workers and many who could work from home retained employment,
           while tens of millions whose work was in person or on-site were thrown into unemploy-
           ment. Travel, of course, was radically curtailed because of stay-at-home orders, dropping as
           much as 90 percent at times. The long-term effects of these sudden shifts are uncertain.

               Even before the pandemic, major generational, demographic, economic, and cultural
           shifts in the U.S. were already altering the nature of work and travel. As a result of these
           long-term shifts, the number of workers who usually worked from home and those who
           could sometimes work from home had already been rising, enabled by new technology,
           the demands of digital workers, and the working retirement of many baby boomers. In
           addition, new digital platforms enabled workers to directly contract with customers and
           employers for short-term contract work (gigs).

               The economy will recover and create a new normal, and the way that the work world
           will adapt is unknown. Perhaps workers will demand more work-at-home and telecommut-
           ing options, having been shown that possibility; perhaps more workers will enter the gig
           economy as a supplement or a substitute for the job lost; perhaps there will long-standing
           shifts in the major economic sectors. This brief is a snapshot of the time before, ready to be

     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
revisited in some undetermined time after when we are ready to assess what changes have
                     remained.

                         The purpose of this brief is to provide a snapshot of the nature of work in 2019, with
                     focus on the single most important trend in work travel: the shift to nontraditional work.
                     The goal is to help researchers and policymakers interested in quantifying the amount and
                     type of changes in the U.S. workforce in 2020 and later. In addition, this brief explores how
                     workers involved in each of these sectors of nontraditional work commute and travel for
                     their daily life tasks. Statistics with margins of error are presented at the 90th confidence
                     limit (±10 percent).

                     Introduction
                     In the before time, many (especially younger) workers pushed for greater flexibility to bal-
                     ance work and family life, including telecommuting options, nontraditional hours, and the
                     ability to work from anywhere. In a tight employment market, employers responded with
                     more of these types of benefits.

                        Employers had also been shifting more workers to contract jobs without the traditional
                     benefits of pension, health insurance, and paid time off. This shift to defining more jobs as
                     contractor, 1099, or gig work was just starting to see policy interventions by state and local
                     authorities to protect workers in 2019.

                         In combination with that, a plethora of new online platforms were launched to directly
                     connect workers and work opportunities without formal employment. What started with
                     Uber ballooned into thousands of sites offering one-time or short-term gigs to work in
                     food delivery; pet, child, and elder care; handyman services; and multitudes more. There
                     was such growth in the amount of “electronically enabled work” (a definition used by the
                     Bureau of Labor Statistics) and the shift to contract employees that some projections (such
                     as McKinsey Global Institute) were that fully half of the U.S. workforce would be involved
                     in some sort of gig work in the next decade or so.

                         But in the spring of 2020, the world changed, and the nature of work changed with it.
                     The stay-at-home advisories meant most workers had to find ways to work from home,
                     including teachers (as schools and universities shuttered), doctors (as office visits moved
                     online), and entertainers and musicians. Some jobs, by their very nature, were neither
                     deemed essential or not able to be done off site, for example workers in food and beverage
                     sales; retail and shop workers; personal service providers; airline and transportation work-
                     ers; and hospitality, travel, and tourism workers.

4   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
    © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Figure 1. Online Platforms that Enable Gig Work

          It is important to keep in mind that while the supply of hotels, restaurants, and service
      jobs disappeared as establishments were shuttered, demand for many goods and services
      disappeared as well. One of the many unknowns is how the demand and supply balance
      might look going forward.

      Trends toward Nontraditional Work
      The number of people engaged in nontraditional work grew over the last few decades. For
      instance, between 1990 and 2018 the number of workers who worked at home increased
      substantially, and faster than the overall growth in the workforce, especially since 2010
      (U.S. Census, 1990, 2000, and 2010; American Community Survey (ACS), 2018). Overall,
      the trend data shows that in 1995 few workers (just over 2 percent of all) worked only at
      home (not including occasional telecommuting) and not much variation was seen between
      people of different ages. In addition, the number of workers that sometimes or occasionally
      telecommuted (but usually went into a regular workplace) nearly doubled since 2001.

          There has been an increase in the percentage of workers who hold multiple/part-time
      jobs—while the percent employed at single full-time work had been decreasing (in workers
      over the age of 21). Related to that, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates growth in
      the percentage of workers in jobs with no benefits.1

         Importantly, workers in nontradtional work have different travel behavior and commute
      characteristics and substantial growth in these nontraditional arrangements could change

      1 Current Population Survey March Supplement (1995–2017) and Katz and Krueger (2019). Data from the
      Center for Retirement Research, Boston College. Published at: https://crr.bc.edu/working-papers/how-do-older-
      workers-use-nontraditional-jobs/

                                                                                 Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                               5
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
choices for residential location, affect work tenure, and alter the proportion of work travel
                     during peak periods and on weekends.

                     Who Are the Nontraditional Workers?
                     Nontraditional workers in 2019 included workers who had flexible work schedules, had the
                     option of telecommuting, or usually worked at home, and workers who worked multiple
                     and/or part-time jobs; together these represent a plurality of workers in the U.S.

                         In all, about 42 percent of workers could set or change their work times, i.e. flextime
                     (see Figure 2), and this category overlaps workers who have the option to telecommute
                     (14 percent of all workers) and workers who usually work at home (12 percent of all work-
                     ers). In addition, trends show a growing portion of workers who worked multiple and/or
                     part-time jobs and some portion of these are (also or only) gig workers.

                                                                                             Workers Who
                                                                                            Have the Option
                                                                                            to Telecommute
                                                                                                  14%
                                             Workers
                                             Who Only
                                            Work Gig Jobs
                                                ??%

                               Workers with                                                               Workers with
                               Part-Time or                                                             Flexible Schedules
                               Multiple Jobs
                                   26%
                                                                                                               42%
                                                                   Workers
                                                                  Who Usually
                                                                 Work at Home
                                                                     12%

                     Figure 2. Proportion of Workers in Nontraditional Work Arrangements, 2017

6   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
    © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
There were important demographic differences between the workers involved in non-
      traditional work and those in more traditional arrangements.

               • Younger workers (between 21 and the median age of 40 years) were less likely
                 to have flextime in their jobs; 36 percent of younger workers could set their
                 own schedules compared to 43 percent of older workers. Younger workers were
                 much less likely to usually work at home compared to older workers; 9 percent of
                 younger workers compared to 14 percent of older workers.
               • Non-white workers were less likely to have flextime or the option to telecommute
                 compared to their white counterparts; only 34 percent of non-white workers
                 could set their own schedules compared to 43 percent of white workers.
               • Lower-income workers (who have incomes under the median of $47,0002) had
                 even more differences compared to their counterparts: only 27 percent of work-
                 ers with lower than median incomes had the ability to set or change their work
                 start times (flextime) compared to 45 percent of higher-income workers. Over a
                 third of lower-income workers worked multiple/part-time jobs compared to less
                 than one out of five of higher-income workers. Lower-income workers were less
                 than half as likely to have the option to telecommute but nearly the same propor-
                 tion of higher- and lower-income workers usually worked at home.
               • Traditionally, women have been more likely to work part-time; 31 percent of
                 women worked multiple/part-time jobs in 2017 compared to 19 percent of men.
                 Women were also much less likely than men to have had the option of telecom-
                 muting (only 12 percent of women workers had the option of telecommuting) or
                 to set their own work schedules.

         Figure 3 shows the participation rate by demographic group in these nontraditional
      work categories; the outlines indicate statistically different participation rates.

      2 State of Working America Wages 2019, February 2020. Elise Gould, Economic Policy Institute.
      https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2019/

                                                                                 Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                               7
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Percentage of Workers

                               Workers with Flextime
                                          41.8% of all
                                                               36%      43%         43%     34%           27%        45%         48%   42%
                                                              Younger   Older       White Non-White     Lower Inc. Higher Inc.   Men   Women

                             Multiple/Part-Time Jobs
                                          26.4% of all
                                                               25%      23%         23%     25%           34%        19%         19%    31%
                                                              Younger   Older       White Non-White     Lower Inc. Higher Inc.   Men   Women

                          Option of Telecommuting
                                         13.9% of all          15%      15%         18%     15%           8%         21%         17%    12%
                                                              Younger   Older       White Non-White     Lower Inc. Higher Inc.   Men   Women

                              Usually Works at Home
                                          11.5% of all         9%       14%         13%      11%          11%         12%        12%    12%
                                                              Younger   Older       White Non-White     Lower Inc. Higher Inc.   Men   Women

                     Figure 3. Percentage of Workers Who Have Nontraditional Work Arrangements by
                     Age, Race, Income, and Gender, 2017

                        Figure 4 shows the distribution of workers in each of the nontraditional arrangements,
                     highlighting the demographic differences even more:

                              • More than half of workers with the option to telecommute and two thirds of
                                those who usually worked from home were older than the median age of 40.
                              • Non-whites are over-represented across all the nontraditional work arrange-
                                ments but especially in the category of workers with multiple/part-time jobs.
                                Among these workers, 38 percent were non-white compared to 22 percent in the
                                total workforce.
                              • Three quarters or more of workers who had flextime, the option to telecommute,
                                or usually worked at home were higher-income (i.e. above the median).
                              • About three out of five (around 60 percent) of the workers who had flextime, the
                                option to telecommute, or usually worked from home were men (the workforce
                                is about 47 percent women and 53 percent men).

8   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
    © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Older    Younger    Non-White     White   Higher Inc.    Lower Inc.   Women    Men

                                                                      31%                               21%
                Workers with Flextime                                                                                 43%
                                                50%     50%                                                                   57%
                           41.8% of all                                         69%            76%

             Multiple/Part-Time Jobs                                  38%                                45%                  41%
                                                51%     49%                                  54%                      59%
                          26.4% of all                                          62%

                                                                                                        15%
           Option of Telecommuting                                    32%                                             39%
                                                54%     46%
                          13.9% of all                                          68%                                           61%
                                                                                                83%

              Usually Works at Home                     34%           32%                               29%
                                                                                                                      48%     52%
                          11.5% of all          66%                             68%           68%

     Figure 4. Distribution of Workers Who Have Nontraditional Work Arrangements by
     Age, Race, Income, and Gender, 2017

     How Do Nontraditional Workers Travel?
     Nontraditional workers traveled differently than their counterparts. Figure 5 summarizes
     the average passenger miles traveled (PMT) by all means of travel and for all purposes. The
     differences in travel were co-related to the demographics of workers in each group, such as
     income and occupation, and include:

     Workers who usually worked at home.
     Home workers traveled nearly the same as workers who usually worked at a regular work-
     place. While home workers spent 40 percent fewer miles commuting, they spent more miles
     for shopping, family, and personal errands.

         Men had the same likelihood of working at home whether or not they had children
     in the household. In contrast, women with children were more likely to work at home
     compared to women in households without children. Women who worked at home trav-
     eled very similarly to women who worked at a workplace—there was just a 1.2-mile differ-
     ence per day between them. On the other hand, men who worked at home traveled almost
     10 miles more per day (56.9 compared to 47.0 miles) compared to men who worked at a
     regular workplace.

                                                                                  Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                              9
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Workers with the option of telecommuting.
                      In contrast, workers who had the option of telecommuting traveled more miles than work-
                      ers who did not—almost 20 percent more overall. Men who had the option to telecommute
                      traveled much further for work and work-related purposes in an average day—20 miles
                      compared to 17 for men who could not telecommute. Women with the option to telecom-
                      mute had work-related travel closer in distance in mileage their counterparts, just 2.5 miles
                      more (14.8 compared to 12.3 miles in work and work-related travel).

                      Workers with multiple/part-time jobs.
                      Workers with multiple/part-time jobs traveled about 10 percent fewer miles per day
                      compared to workers with full-time jobs. These workers had shorter commutes but they
                      reported more miles of non-categorized travel, indicating that the typical purposes allowed
                      in the survey were inadequate for describing their travel. Importantly, the time-of-day pro-
                      file for these workers was quite different compared to full-time workers.

                      Workers with flextime.
                      Workers who could set their own work schedule traveled about 10 percent more than work-
                      ers who did not have that option. Women with flextime traveled just 5 percent more miles
                      than women who abided a work schedule, whereas men with flextime traveled 11 percent
                      more miles compared to men who abided a work schedule. The commute time-of-day
                      peaks for workers with flextime were quite similar to those without, with just a slight shift
                      to late morning and evening (on the shoulder of the peaks).

10   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Travel by Non–Traditional Workers
                                                          (PMT per Day Compared to All Workers)

                                                                                                                Women
          Workers Who Usually Work at Home                                                                      Men
                                                                                                                All Workers

              Workers Who Can Telecommute

         Workers with Multiple/Part–Time Jobs

                        Workers with Flextime

                                                -3%       -2%          -1%              0%            1%           2%         3%
                                                         Fewer Miles than All Workers        More Miles than All Workers

      Figure 5. Travel by Nontraditional Workers: Percent Difference in Miles per Day
      (PMT), 2017

         For reference, baseline travel rates by purpose by all workers is shown in Appendix A,
      Table A1. The remainder of this brief dives into more detail for each of these nontraditional
      groups of workers.

      1. Workers with Flextime
      Over four out of ten workers in the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) could set
      or change their work time (flextime) but this option was highly related to the type of job,
      the level of income, and the gender of the worker, as well as whether or not the work is in
      a large metro area (see Appendix A, Table A2 for details). For example, about a third of
      workers in sales and service had flextime, compared to well over half (55 percent) of those
      in professional, technical, or managerial occupations. Less than a third of workers in low-
      er-income households had flextime compared to more than half of workers in the high-
      est-income group. Men were more likely than women to have the option of setting their
      own work hours.

           Workers with flextime had remarkably similar time-of-day profiles for their commutes
      compared to workers without it. Overall, workers in both groups traveled during the
      morning and evening peaks, with a slight tendency for later morning arrivals for workers
      with flextime (Figure 6). Such a similar time-of-day pattern indicates that flextime has
      little effect on commute times, which may be more related to extraneous factors such as
      dropping children at school, scheduled meetings and co-work, and even after-work plans
      (whole-day scheduling).

                                                                                   Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                             11
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Had Flextime       Did Not Have Flextime
                                              35

                                              30

                                              25
                      Percentage of Workers

                                              20

                                              15

                                              10

                                               5

                                               0
                                                   Mid–6AM   6–9AM   9–NOON      NOON–3PM           3–6PM           6–9PM           9–Mid

                      Figure 6. Percentage of Workers by Commute Time: Workers with and without
                      Flextime, 2017 NHTS

                         In their daily tasks, workers with flextime traveled more miles than workers overall:
                      about 37 miles per day on average compared to 34, or about a 9 percent more for workers
                      with flextime. Women with flextime traveled just 5 percent more miles than women who
                      abided a work schedule, whereas men with flextime traveled 11 percent more miles com-
                      pared to men who abided a work schedule (Figure 7).

                                                                                                                        Lorem ipsum

12   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Miles by Purpose Per Day:
                                                Men and Women Workers with Flextime
                                   Other         3.9
                       Social/Recreational                   10.0
        Women

                    Shop/Family/Personal                      10.6
                Commute and Work Related                        11.6
                                       All                                                              36.1
                                   Other               6.4
                       Social/Recreational                    10.4
        Men

                    Shop/Family/Personal                     9.8
                Commute and Work Related                                      17.3
                                       All                                                                             44.0
                                   Other           5.3
                       Social/Recreational                   10.3
                    Shop/Family/Personal                     10.1
        All

                Commute and Work Related                               14.9
                                       All                                                                      40.6

     Figure 7. Miles by Purpose per Day: Men and Women Workers with Flextime, 2017
     NHTS

     2. Workers Who Telecommute
     In 2019, about 26 million Americans—16 percent of the total workforce—had the option
     of telecommuting at least part of the time.3 According to the NHTS, the number of workers
     that sometimes or occasionally telecommute has nearly doubled in the last two decades.
     There are a lot of definitional issues related to telecommuting (Mokhtarian et al., 2005). In
     addition to working at home, telecommuters can work in other locations, such as coffee
     shops, libraries, or co-working spaces. Workers take work home after hours, or catch up on
     the weekends, or work part of their workday remotely. Many large employers encourage full
     days of telework; for example, since 2010 the Federal Government has encouraged telecom-
     muting and 43 percent of Federal employees were deemed eligible to do so in 2017.4

         While telecommuting often means working from home, in this report workers who
     usually worked at home and those who telecommuted are differentiated by frequency. As
     shown in Figure 8, nearly a quarter of the workers who indicated that they had the option
     of telecommuting or sometimes working from home had not done so in the previous
     month, another third telecommuted once a month or so, while two out of five workers
     took this option once a week or so. Only 2 to 3 percent of workers indicated that they

     3 American Time Use Survey. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019. See Table 6 at: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/
     atus.t06.htm

     4 Status of Telework in the Federal Government: Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 2017. Office of Personnel
     Management, 2019. https://www.telework.gov/reports-studies/reports-to-congress/2018-report-to-congress.pdf

                                                                                     Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                           13
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
telecommuted every day; these could be workers who do not work at their regular work-
                      place but also do not work at home.

                                                45%
                                                40%                                                                                  Men
                                                                                                                                     Women
                                                35%
                                                                                                                                     Total
                        Percentage of Workers

                                                30%
                                                25%
                                                20%
                                                15%
                                                10%
                                                5%
                                                0%
                                                      Not in the Last Month   Once a Month or So   Once a Week or So     Almost Every Day

                      Figure 8. Number of Days Telecommuted in the Last Month by Workers with the
                      Option to Telecommute, 2017 NHTS

                         The option to sometimes work from home had been increasing over the last two
                      decades, inspired by the growth of digital work, the benefit to work/life balance, and
                      ever-better technology to support telecommuting. Telecommuting showed particular
                      expansion as an option for higher-income workers in professional and technical fields; by
                      2017, a quarter of high-income workers and workers in professional/technical/managerial
                      occupations had the option to telecommute, compared to just 8 percent of lower-income
                      workers and 10 percent or less of workers in other occupations (see Figures 9 and 10).

14   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Has the Option to Sometimes Work at Home/Telecommute

                                                                                                                                     25.6%
                                                                                                                    23.2%

                                                                                                        18.1%
                                                                                            14.5%
                                                                           12.1%
                                                         9.3%
                                           8.0%
              4.9%          5.4%

              2001          2009            2017         2001              2009             2017        2001        2009             2017
                     Less than $50K                                  $50–100K                                     More than $100K

     Figure 9. Percentage of Workers with the Option to Telecommute by Income,
     2017 NHTS

                                              Trends in Telecommuting by Occupational Category

                                                                                                                                      25.0%

                                                                                                                         20.1%

                                                                                                                13.2%
                                                                  10.4%
                     8.3%       9.0%
            7.0%                                        6.4%                                            6.1%
                                             4.6%                                  3.7%       4.3%

             20 01     20 0 9       2017      20 01      20 0 9     2017            20 01      20 0 9    2017    20 01      20 0 9      2017
                Sales and Service             Clerical or Administrative           Const./Warehouse/Maint.          Prof/Manager/Tech

     Figure 10. Percentage of Workers with the Option to Telecommute by Occupational
     Category, 2017 NHTS

                                                                                               Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                 15
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Because workers who had the option to telecommute were more likely to be higher-in-
                      come professionals in larger metro areas, the average miles per day workers who telecom-
                      muted traveled for all purposes was greater than workers who did not have the option
                      to telecommute. For instance, telecommuters had longer commute distances on average
                      than workers without the telecommuting option, 18 miles compared to 14.8 (Figure 11).
                      However, statistical testing showed that while a clear pattern of telecommuters having
                      longer commutes was evident, the margins of error in this group were wide. Only workers
                      engaged in sales and service occupations had statistically longer commutes when they had
                      the option of telecommuting (see Appendix A, Table A6). Further detailed analysis could
                      offer more insight.

                                                                    8.5
                                 Social/Recreational
                                                                          10.4

                                                                   8.1
                               Shop/Family/Personal
                                                                         9.7

                                                                                   14.8
                         Commute and Work Related
                                                                                          18.0

                                                                                                                           35.4
                                                 All
                                                                                                                                          44.0

                                                       0.0   5.0   10.0          15.0     20.0     25.0      30.0      35.0       40.0   45.0    50.0
                                                                                   Number of Miles per Worker per Day
                                                                                   *Travel coded as "Other" not included

                      Figure 11. Miles per Day of Travel for Workers Who Had the Option to
                      Telecommute and Those Who Did Not, 2017 NHTS

16   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
3. Workers with Multiple and/or Part-Time Jobs
      Online digital platforms accelerated policymakers’ interest in the effects of nontraditional
      work on overall travel. A plethora of new apps match a large pool of labor and service pro-
      viders with a wide pool of buyers or potential customers. In this gig labor market, workers
      act as independent contractors or freelancers for short-term or multiple jobs, structured
      unlike formal employment.

           For businesses, defining who is an employee and who
      is a contractor has become increasingly difficult5 and there                               “Online, picking up a ‘gig’ (or a
      is no fixed definition of who is part of the gig economy.                                  temporary work engagement)
                                                                                                 is as easy as making plans for
      However, the literature points to a growing number of
                                                                                                 dinner or finding a date… These
      workers engaged in jobs that are not traditional payroll                                   companies make it easy for
      style. In this section, we use data from the Bureau of Labor                               workers to find a quick, tempo-
                                                                                                 rary job (i.e., a gig), which can
      Statistics (BLS), which defines “electronically-mediated”
                                                                                                 include any kind of work, from a
      and “contingent” workers, and from the NHTS, where this                                    musical performance to fixing a
      category includes workers with multiple and/or part-time                                   leaky faucet… However… that
                                                                                                 gig is a temporary work engage-
      jobs.
                                                                                                 ment, and the worker is paid
                                                                                                 only for that specific job.”
          Generally, gig workers can be divided into two catego-
                                                                         National Association of Counties (NACO)
      ries: Labor providers (for example: drivers, housecleaners,                            “The Future of Work:
      handymen, health aide workers) and goods producers (for                       The Rise of the Gig Economy”
                                                                         https://www.naco.org/featured-resources/
      example: writers, artists, craftsmen, designers). In 2019,                    future-work-rise-gig-economy
      about half of electronically-mediated workers did their
      work online and half in person.6 Contract or contingent
      workers were found across all industries but particu-
      lar growth has been seen in the transportation and warehousing sectors (Uber/Lyft and
      Amazon).

          The NHTS data shows that younger, lower-income, non-white workers are more likely
      than their counterparts to hold multiple/part-time jobs; they may piece together multiple
      jobs for their entire livelihood, whereas higher-income and more-educated workers may
      use gig work as supplemental income.

      5 The IRS has guidance on their site: The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if
      the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work, not what will be done and how it will be
      done. Businesses providing employee-type benefits, such as insurance, a pension plan, vacation pay, or sick pay
      have employees. Businesses generally do not grant these benefits to independent contractors. The permanency
      of the relationship is important. An expectation that the relationship will continue indefinitely, rather than for
      a specific project or period, is generally seen as evidence that the intent was to create an employer–employee
      relationship. In general, determination is made on a case-by-case basis.
      6 A Look at Contingent Workers. September 2018. https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2018/contingent-workers/

                                                                                 Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                               17
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
According to the 2018 American Time Use Survey, multiple jobholders were more likely
                      to work on an average weekday than were single jobholders—90 percent of these workers
                      reported working on the sample day compared to 82 percent of workers with a single job.
                      Multiple jobholders were also more likely to work on an average weekend day—56 percent,
                      compared with 28 percent.7

                          Workers with multiple/part-time jobs traveled about 10 percent fewer miles per day
                      compared to workers with full-time jobs. The commute distances for these workers was
                      much less than that of full-time workers, but they reported more miles of non-categorized
                      travel, indicating that the typical purposes contained in the survey were inadequate to
                      describe their travel.

                                                                           Travel by Workers with Multiple/Part-Time Jobs
                                                                             (PMT per Day Compared to Full-Time Workers)

                                                 Other

                                     Social/Recreational

                                   Shop/Family/Personal

                           Commute and Work Related

                                                     All

                                                           -40%     -30%          -20%           -10%           0%             10%            20%
                                                                                     Fewer Miles than All Workers    More Miles than All Workers

                      Figure 12. Travel by Workers with Multiple/Part-Time Jobs (PMT per Day
                      Compared to Full-Time Workers), 2017 NHTS

                          Importantly, the time-of-day profiles for the commute trips by workers with multiple/
                      part-time jobs was quite different compared to traditional workers with a single full-time
                      job. Figure 13 shows that only 40 percent of workers in this category arrived at work during
                      the morning peak of 6 to 9 am, compared to 70 percent of traditional workers.

                      7 American Time Use Survey. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019. See Table 4. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/
                      pdf/atus.pdf

18   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Arrival Time at Work (On Workdays) for Workers
                                                            with Multiple/Part-Time Jobs and All Others

                                80.0%
                                                                                                                   Gig Workers
                                70.0%
                                                                                                                   All Others
                                60.0%
        Percentage of Workers

                                50.0%
                                40.0%
                                30.0%
                                20.0%
                                10.0%
                                0.0%

                                        Mid–6AM   6–9AM      9–NOON       NOON–3PM          3–6PM          6–9PM        9–Mid

      Figure 13. Arrival Time at Work (on Workdays) for Workers with Multiple/Part-Time
      Jobs and All Others, 2017 NHTS

      4. Workers Who Usually Work at Home
      The number of people who usually worked at home had been increasing since the 1990s.
      Both demographics and technology advances contributed to this trend. Between the 1990
      and the 2018 ACS, the number of workers who worked at home increased substantially, and
      faster than the overall growth in the workforce, especially since 2010.

          A contributing demographic factor is the number of people who continue to work past
      the traditional retirement age, many of whom work only at home. According to the BLS,
      more than half of people aged 60 to 64—54.7 percent—were working at least part time in
      2017 and a third of those aged 65 to 69—31.2 percent—were working. According to the
      NHTS, a quarter of workers aged 65 and older reported working only from home.

          Overall, the trend data shows that in 1995 few workers (just over 2 percent of all)
      worked only at home (not including occasional telecommuting) and not much variation
      was seen between people of different ages. Since then, the increase in home workers has
      been substantial in every age group but the growth in older workers working from home
      is notable. By 2017, the oldest workers showed the highest levels of work at home but even
      for prime-age workers (30 to 64, shown in different age groups), between 10 and 15 percent
      reported usually working at home (Figure 14).

                                                                                       Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                         19
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Trends in the Percentage of Workers by
                                                                                 Age Group Who Work Only at Home
                                                                   30%

                          Percentage of Workers Who Work at Home   25%                                                                75 and older
                                                                                                                                      65 to 74 years old

                                                                   20%

                                                                   15%                                                                55 to 64 years old
                                                                                                                                      45 to 54 years old
                                                                   10%                                                                30 to 44 years old

                                                                                                                                      16 to 29 years old
                                                                   5%

                                                                   0%
                                                                         1995         2001                2009                 2017

                                                                                                           Source: BTS Analaysis of NHTS Data Series

                      Figure 14. Trends in the Number of Workers by Age Group Who Work at Home,
                      NHTS Data Series 1995–2017

                           Another factor related to working at home is the presence of children. Workers aged
                      21 to 54 make up 71 percent of all workers (in the NHTS) and more than half of workers
                      in this age group (54 percent) are living in a household with one or more children. The
                      presence of children is well known to constrain workers’ commutes; for example, dropping
                      children at school on the way to work is a common purpose of trip chaining (McGuckin, et
                      al., 2004; McDonald, 2014).

                          A little over 10 percent of workers in this age group worked at home in 2017, whether
                      or not there were children present. (The estimates of 10.2 and 10.7 percent are within the
                      margin of error.) Interestingly, men in households with and without children had the same
                      likelihood of working at home. On the other hand, women in households with children
                      were more likely to usually work from home compared to women in households without
                      children, as shown in Figure 15 (these estimates are statistically different).

20   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
WAH in Households with Child(ren)     WAH in Households w/o Child(ren)

                                                             12.6%

                                                                        10.5%                     10.7%
                     9.9%         9.9%                                                                          10.2%

                            Men                                   Women                                   All

      Figure 15. Percentage of Workers Aged 21 to 54 Who Work at Home,
      Comparing Men and Women in Households with Children, 2017 NHTS

          One of the important questions about travel behavior of people who usually worked at
      home is whether they traveled less than workers who went to work. Logic says that home
      workers who did not make a work trip—for most people the longest trip of the day—would
      travel fewer miles than workers who commuted to work. And while this is true, it is only a
      marginal difference.

          According to the 2017 NHTS, workers traveled just under 45 miles per day on average;
      34 percent were spent commuting (15.3 miles traveling to and from work including work-
      ers who went to work and those that did not). Working men travel farther in an average day
      (48 miles on average) than working women (41 miles on average). (Baseline data for PMT
      by workers by purpose is in Appendix A, Table A1—Daily PMT by All Workers by Gender
      and Purpose.)

          Figure 16 compares the daily miles of travel by purpose for men and women who
      worked at home and who did not. Overall, workers who usually worked at home traveled
      just 1.3 fewer miles per day than workers who did not work at home. While home workers
      traveled nearly half the miles for work-related tasks—such as client meetings, site visits, or
      service calls—they traveled more miles for shopping and errands and for social and recre-
      ational purposes.

         There was a significant difference in the daily miles of travel by men and women home
      workers but the overall pattern was similar: home workers shifted the miles spent com-
      muting to household errands and social and recreational travel. The age of the worker also
      made a significant difference; men aged 21 to 54 and 55 to 69 and women aged 55 to 69

                                                                                  Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                              21
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
traveled nearly the same number of miles per day when they were home workers or not.
                      That is, workers in these age groups seemed to replace the lost commute trip with other
                      travel. On the other hand, home workers who were women aged 21 to 54 and the oldest
                      home workers of both genders (those aged 70 and older) traveled much less than their
                      counterparts for all daily tasks.

                                                           Did Not Work at Home                       Work at Home

                                         All Other Purposes              4.3
                                                                          4.8

                                                                                  8.8
                                          Social/Recreational
                                                                                        10.6

                                                                                 8.3
                                        Shop/Family/Personal
                                                                                           12.2

                               Commute and Work Related                                               15.3
                                                                                8.0

                                                          All                                                                              36.8
                                                                                                                                         35.5

                                                                0.0    5.0      10.0           15.0          20.0   25.0   30.0   35.0       40.0
                                                                                 Person Miles of Travel per Worker per Day

                      Figure 16. Daily Miles of Travel (PMT) for Workers Who Worked at Home
                      Compared to Those Who Do Not, 2017 NHTS

22   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Conclusions
      Flextime
      Flextime was an option for a plurality of workers but seems unlikely to increase to occupa-
      tions reliant on shift work (e.g. hospitals, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, warehousing).
      In addition, flextime had little effect on travel rates or time of day of commuting—that is,
      workers with flextime seemed to travel to work at about the same time as those without.

      Working at Home and Telecommuting
      In 2019, the option to telecommute or primarily work from home was tied to higher-income
      professions in large metro areas. The stay-at-home orders forced most workers to conduct
      their daily work only from home. In the future, there will be workers who continue to work
      only at home and more dispersion of the option to telecommute across income groups,
      across occupations, and in metro areas large and small. Working at home and the option to
      telecommute are the most likely to permanently increase in the workforce after 2020.

      Multiple/Part-Time Jobs
      As online platforms continue to grow, the ability of businesses and individuals to connect
      with skilled and unskilled labor directly will also grow. Participation by workers through
      online platforms will undoubtedly continue to increase but the increase may come in the
      form of lower-wage, labor-based services. While in 2019 about half of contract or contin-
      gent workers were working online, there may be a shift to more in-person work such as
      delivery services; elder, child, and pet care; handyman; and other services.

          Critically, not only is this sector likely to increase, workers in these jobs exhibit the
      greatest differences in travel compared to traditional workers. For example, they are more
      likely to travel from worksite to worksite, to travel for work on weekends and at non-peak
      times, and to use their vehicle for commercial passenger or freight delivery.

      Likely Overall Impact
      Looking forward, the changes to the workforce would undoubtedly have had a profound
      impact on travel behavior, even without the pandemic. There was a latent demand prior
      to 2020 for more telecommuting and work-at-home and many more workers will do so if
      their occupations can accommodate it. Some form of flextime or new shift work may evolve
      over the next year to help workplaces maintain social distancing. While hospitality, tourism,
      and entertainment businesses may reopen, we cannot predict the demand for gathering or
      traveling in crowds. Finally, workers who turned to online platforms while unemployed
      may retain that relationship as a supplement even if their regular job resumes. Contract and

                                                                                 Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                               23
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
contingent workers were the focus of some policy interventions prior to 2020 and we may
                      expect more worker protections alongside more workers engaged in gig work.

                          Other economic and demographic trends will continue and some may reflect reces-
                      sionary adaptations. For example, in the near future we can expect larger household size as
                      families consolidate; especially, college-aged children may remain at home. Slower popu-
                      lation growth (especially in the prime working age) will result from lowered immigration.
                      Lost income during the stay-at-home period may force older workers to delay retiring even
                      longer. Delays in marriage, childbearing, and household formation may result from uncer-
                      tain economic times. Urban population growth may slow.

                          For transportation-related changes, the most impactful will probably be a slow recov-
                      ery of long-distance air travel and related hospitality and tourism. Transit and ridesharing,
                      especially the carpool and vanpool options, may face some obstacles. Home delivery of gro-
                      ceries and other daily goods will gain a greater market share along with continued growth
                      in e-commerce.

                         In short, as the number of people involved in nontraditional work continues to rise,
                      some important transportation impacts could include:

                               • Greater number of workers working at home and greater participation in tele-
                                 commuting across income groups and occupations
                               • Greater number of workers engaged in part-time gig work
                               • Shrinking portion of workers making traditional commutes during peak period
                               • Fewer opportunities for transit and carpool to serve workers
                               • More vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for deliveries, transport services, and non-
                                 peak commuting
                               • More day-to-day variation in travel; more work travel on the weekends
                               • Greater number of workers who are now marginal (e.g. older, younger,
                                 differently-abled)

                      Implications for Data
                      All the federal datasets need to examine the questions related to worker status, occupation,
                      and work location for their relevance in light of the growth in nontraditional work. To
                      understand the total impact on travel, researchers need more detailed information about
                      the work life of sampled people. For example, direct questions about the use of online plat-
                      forms (and whether travel was needed to complete the job), questions about the number
                      of hours worked day to day, and better information on time spent working at home. The
                      NHTS also should try to identify people who drive to deliver goods or serve passengers as
                      part of their daily activity.

24   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Notes on the Data Sources
      Note that the NHTS data subset workers aged 21 years and older. For PMT estimates, the
      variable TRPMILES was capped at 480 miles per trip to remove outliers (the 2017 NHTS
      method of obtaining trip distance used a google API to calculate network distance from
      geocoded origin to geocoded destination which resulted in some outliers). The character-
      istics under analysis: “Usually works at home,” “Has the option of working at home,” and
      “Has a flexible work schedule” are coded as single variables for workers in the NHTS but
      those engaged in gig work were constructed from multiple variables.

      Notes on Teleworking Definitions
      (from “The Future of Work,” Cambridge Systematics for Southern California
      Association of Governments)
      One of the challenges of combining analyses from various survey data is that each survey
      can ask common questions in different ways that might lead to different responses from
      the same person. A publication from the Census Bureau explains differences estimates of
      home-based workers from SIPP and ACS. Table 1 details the data sources and definitions
      used in this report.

          The estimates of home-based workers from the Survey of Income and Program
      Participation (SIPP) and ACS are not directly comparable because each survey queries
      workers about home-based activities differently. The SIPP asks workers aged 15 and over to
      indicate which days of the work week they work entirely from home. Thus, to be regarded
      as an at-home worker by this survey, a respondent must report having worked only at home
      on a given workday. Individuals who check email or carry out other work activities at home
      but outside of their normal work hours are not counted as home-based workers in SIPP.

          In the ACS, workers aged 16 and over are asked to report how they “usually” got to
      work last week. Those who used several methods of getting to work, either in the same
      week or in the same day, are asked to list the mode used most often. If two or more modes
      are used with the same frequency, the respondent selects the mode used for the longest
      distance. Respondents who select work at home, presumably, work the majority of the week
      from home. This measure of home-based work is more conservative than the SIPP measure
      and excludes respondents who work at home during off hours or those who sometimes
      telework from home but for less than the majority of a workweek.

          Home-based worker estimates between the two surveys may also differ because of
      differences in labor force definitions and survey design. In SIPP, the labor force estimates in
      the Work Schedule Topical Module refer to a typical week in the month prior to the inter-
      view month but the ACS estimates are based on work activities that occur during the week
      prior to the interview week. The SIPP also includes more extensive labor force questions

                                                                                 Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                               25
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
aimed at measuring contingent and unpaid family work. Lastly, the SIPP uses two interview
                      modes (personal visit and telephone), while the ACS uses three (mail, phone, and personal
                      visit). Taken together, these differences may increase the likelihood that SIPP identifies
                      respondents who work irregular schedules. Some additional differences, the effects of
                      which are more difficult to speculate about, included the survey collection period—1 year
                      for the ACS and 4 months for SIPP—editing and imputation procedures, and the calcula-
                      tion of survey weights.

                      Table 1. Commuter Type Definitions from Various Data Sources

                       Data Source                      Definitions
                       Telecommuter
                       SIPP                             A worker who is not flagged as working from home but worked
                                                        from home 1 to 4 days per week
                       NHTS 2009                        A worker who has a teleworking option and telecommuted at least
                                                        1 day per week
                       NHTS 2017                        A non-home worker who has a teleworking option and
                                                        telecommuted at least 1 day per week
                       Home Worker
                       SIPP                             A worker who is flagged as working from home or worked from
                                                        home 5 or more days a week
                       ACS                              Those who reported working from home as their commute last
                                                        week
                       NHTS 2009 and 2017               Those who reported working from home full time or part time
                       Flexible Worker
                       NHTS 2009 and 2017               Workers who reported having “the ability to set or change their
                                                        own start time.”

26   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
References
      Asgari, H. and X. Jin. Toward a Comprehensive Telecommuting Analysis Framework. In
      Transportation Research Record 2496. Transportation Research Board, National Research
      Council, Washington, DC, 2015. Available from https://www.academia.edu/21009023/
      Toward_a_Comprehensive_Telecommuting_Analysis_Framework?email_work_card=view-paper

      Desilver, D. Before the Coronavirus, Telework Was an Optional Benefit, Mostly for the Affluent Few. Fact
      Tank: News in the Numbers, Pew Research Center, March 2020. Available from https://www.pewresearch.org/
      fact-tank/2020/03/20/before-the-coronavirus-telework-was-an-optional-benefit-mostly-for-the-affluent-few/

      Ernst & Young. “The workforce is changing.” Available from https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/
      The_future_of_work_is_changing/$FILE/ey-the-future-of-work-is-changing-will-your-workforce-be-ready.pdf

      McDonald, N. Household Interactions and Children’s School Travel: The Effect of Parental Work
      Patterns on Walking and Biking to School. Journal of Transport Geography, Vol. 16, 2008, pp. 324–331.
      Available from http://mcdonald.web.unc.edu/files/2014/12/McDonald_HHInteract_JTG_2008.pdf

      McGuckin, N., J. Zmud, and Y. Nakamoto. Trip Chaining Trends in the US—Understanding Travel
      Behavior for Policy Making. In Transportation Research Record 1917. Transportation Research Board,
      National Research Council, Washington, DC, 2005. Available from https://www.researchgate.net/publica-
      tion/245561588_Trip_Chaining_Trends_in_the_US-Understanding_Travel_Behavior_for_Policy_Making

      McGuckin, N. and A. Fucci. Summary of Travel Trends: 2017 National Household Travel Survey. FHWA
      PL-18-019. Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC, July
      2018, Table 27, p. 79. Available from https://nhts.ornl.gov/assets/2017_nhts_summary_travel_trends.pdf

      Mokhtarian, P., I. Salomon, and S. Choo. Data and Measurement Issues in Transportation, with
      Telecommuting as a Case Study. Research Report UCD-ITS-RR-04-29. Institute of Transportation Studies,
      University of California at Davis, 2004. Available from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9pt8s9jv

      Mokhtarian, P., I. Salomon, and S. Choo. Measuring the Measurable: Why Can’t We Agree
      on the Number of Telecommuters in the U.S.? Quality and Quantity, Vol. 39, No. 4, 2005, pp.
      423–452. Available from https://escholarship.org/content/qt7mb104c1/qt7mb104c1.pdf

                                                                                 Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                               27
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Appendix A. Statistical Testing
                      Table A1. Daily PMT by All Workers by Gender and Purpose, NHTS 2017

                                                                                                                        PMT    Percent-
                                                                                                    Total                per    age of
                                                                                                  Number of            Worker PMT by
                       Gender               Purpose                 Total Daily PMT                Workers             per Day Purpose
                       All           ALL                          2,565,098,709,327               156,988,243            44.8          100.0%
                                     Commute and                      873,677,306,296             156,988,243            15.2           34.1%
                                     Work Related
                                     Shop/Family/                     561,843,569,668             156,988,243             9.8           21.9%
                                     Personal
                                     Social/Recreational              568,916,983,513             156,988,243             9.9           22.2%
                                     Other                            560,660,849,850             156,988,243             9.8           21.9%
                       Men           Commute and                      552,201,581,551               83,588,762           18.1           37.6%
                                     Work Related
                                     Shop/Family/                     274,831,738,598               83,588,762            9.0           18.7%
                                     Personal
                                     Social/Recreational              306,573,036,163               83,588,762           10.0           20.9%
                                     Other                            335,413,110,065               83,588,762           11.0           22.8%
                       Women         Commute and                      321,475,724,745               73,399,481           12.0           29.3%
                                     Work Related
                                     Shop/Family/                     287,011,831,070               73,399,481           10.7           26.2%
                                     Personal
                                     Social/Recreational              262,343,947,350               73,399,481            9.8           23.9%
                                     Other                            225,247,739,785               73,399,481            8.4           20.6%

28   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Table A2. Percentage of Workers with Flextime by Gender, Geography, Income, and
      Occupation (2017 Estimate with 90 percent Confidence Limits), NHTS 2017

                                                                      Percentage of
                                                                     Workers Who Can
                                                                      Change Work                           Margin of
                                                                        Start Time                           Error ±
       Gender
       Men                                                                    46.0%                             0.1%
       Women                                                                  40.4%                             0.4%
       Total                                                                  43.4%                             0.1%
       Metro Area Size
       MSA Less Than 250K*                                                    39.0%                             0.6%
       MSA 250K to Less Than 500K*                                            39.5%                             1.0%
       MSA 500K to Less Than 1 mil.                                           42.1%                             0.4%
       MSA or CMSA 1 mil. to Less Than 3 mil.                                 44.4%                             0.7%
       MSA or CMSA Greater Than 3 mil.                                        47.3%                             0.3%
       Not in an MSA                                                          37.4%                             1.0%
       Household Income
       Income Not Reported                                                    46.8%                             2.0%
       Less Than $50K                                                         32.1%                             0.5%
       $50K to $99,999                                                        41.2%                             0.4%
       $100,000 and Over                                                      55.1%                             0.3%
       Occupational Category
       Sales and Service                                                      33.4%                             0.5%
       Clerical or Administrative                                             36.2%                             0.9%
       Construction/Warehouse/Maintenance                                     29.9%                             0.8%
       Professional, Managerial, or Technical                                 54.7%                             0.2%

      *The percentage of workers with flextime in these categories is not significantly different.

                                                                                 Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                               29
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Table A3. Daily PMT by Workers with Flextime by Gender and Purpose,
                      NHTS 2017

                                                                                            Total Num-           PMT per         Percent of
                                                                                              ber of             Worker           PMT by
                                                               Total Daily PMT               Workers             per Day          Purpose
                       Both  All                             2,021,303,530,573              151,093,348                 36.7          100.0%
                       Men   Commute and                         795,952,935,990             151,093,348                 14.4           39.4%
                       and   Work Related
                       Women
                             Shop/Family/                        485,087,840,988             151,093,348                  8.8           24.0%
                             Personal
                                    Social/                      498,232,351,863             151,093,348                  9.0           24.6%
                                    Recreational
                                    Other                        242,030,401,733             151,093,348                  4.4           12.0%
                       Men          All                        1,162,379,136,144              80,890,669                 39.4         100.0%
                                    Commute and                  492,448,722,304              80,890,669                 16.7           42.4%
                                    Work Related
                                    Shop/Family/                 245,927,691,726              80,890,669                  8.3           21.2%
                                    Personal
                                    Social/                      270,450,105,543              80,890,669                  9.2           23.3%
                                    Recreational
                                    Other                        153,552,616,570              80,890,669                  5.2           13.2%
                       Women All                                 858,924,394,429              70,202,680                 33.5         100.0%
                                    Commute and                  303,504,213,686              70,202,680                 11.8           35.3%
                                    Work Related
                                    Shop/Family/                 239,160,149,261              70,202,680                  9.3           27.8%
                                    Personal
                                    Social/                      227,782,246,320              70,202,680                  8.9           26.5%
                                    Recreational
                                    Other                          88,477,785,163             70,202,680                  3.5           10.3%

30   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Table A4. Percent of Workers with the Option to Telecommute by Gender,
      Geography, Income, and Occupation (2017 Estimate with 90 percent Confidence
      Limits), NHTS 2017

                                                                       Percent of
                                                                     Workers Who
                                                                    Have the Option                       Margin of
                                                                    to Telecommute                         Error ±
       Gender
       Men                                                                 18.5%                              0.4%
       Women                                                               13.8%                              0.8%
       Total                                                               16.3%                              0.3%
       Metro Area Size
       MSA Less Than 250K*                                                 12.1%                              0.9%
       MSA 250K to Less Than 500K*                                         12.2%                              2.2%
       MSA 500K to Less Than 1 mil.*                                       15.0%                              1.5%
       MSA or CMSA 1 mil. to Less Than 3 mil.                              17.3%                              0.8%
       MSA or CMSA Greater Than 3 mil.                                     20.8%                              0.6%
       Not in an MSA                                                        9.3%                              2.1%
       Household Income
       Income Not Reported                                                 16.9%                              3.6%
       Less Than $50K                                                       8.0%                              0.9%
       $50K to $99,999                                                     14.5%                              0.8%
       $100,000 and Over                                                   25.6%                              0.3%
       Occupational Category
       Sales and Service*                                                   9.0%                              1.8%
       Clerical or Administrative*                                         10.4%                              1.7%
       Construction/Warehouse/Maintenance                                   6.1%                              2.8%
       Professional, Managerial, or Technical                              25.0%                              0.4%

      *Percentage of workers who can telecommute in these categories is not significantly different.

                                                                                 Brief 21.1. The Changing Nature of Work                               31
© 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
Table A5. Daily PMT for Workers Who Have the Option to Telecommute
                      by Gender and Purpose, NHTS 2017

                                    Workers Who Have the Option to Work at Home (Telecommute)
                                                                                                                   Total
                                                                                                                 Workers
                                                                                                                 with the             PMT
                                                                                                                 Option of             per
                                                                                                                 Telecom-            Worker
                       Gender                       Purpose                            Daily PMT                  muting             per Day
                       Both          ALL                                          349,558,925,794               21,756,325              44.0
                       Men           Commute and Work Related                      143,307,320,259               21,756,325             18.0
                       and
                       Women         Shop/Family/Personal                           77,099,038,221               21,756,325              9.7
                                     Social/Recreational                            82,708,435,553               21,756,325             10.4
                                     Other                                          46,444,131,762               21,756,325              5.8
                       Men           ALL                                          230,329,881,745               13,247,470              47.6
                                     Commute and Work Related                       97,273,499,126               13,247,470             20.1
                                     Shop/Family/Personal                           47,561,850,220               13,247,470              9.8
                                     Social/Recreational                            51,150,590,242               13,247,470             10.6
                                     Other                                          34,343,942,156               13,247,470              7.1
                       Women         ALL                                          119,229,044,049                8,508,855              38.4
                                     Commute and Work Related                       46,033,821,132               8,508,855              14.8
                                     Shop/Family/Personal                           29,537,188,001               8,508,855               9.5
                                     Social/Recreational                            31,557,845,311               8,508,855              10.2
                                     Other                                          12,100,189,605               8,508,855               3.9

32   Commuting in America 2021: The National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends
     © 2021 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. All rights reserved. Duplication is a violation of applicable law.
You can also read