U.S. Department of Labor • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Summary 09-07 / June 2009 

ment, professional, and related occupations spent at least 

some time working at home on 

days they worked, compared 

with 13 percent of people employed in other occupations. 

Those in management, professional, and related occupations also were more likely to 

work at a location other than 

their home or workplace (10 

percent compared with 7 percent) and less likely to work 

at their workplace (81 percent 

compared with 91 percent) on 

days they worked than were 

people employed in other occupations.5

The percent of people employed in management, professional, and related occupations and who worked at home 

on days they worked generally trended up from 2003 to 

2007. In 2007, about 1 in 3 of 

those workers spent some time 

working at home on days they 

worked. The hours they worked 

at home also increased, by an 

average of 1.4 hours per week 

from 2003 to 2007. This uptick 

in hours worked at home coincided with an increase of 1.2 

hours per week in total work 

time. The weekly hours that 

people employed in management, professional, and related 

occupations worked at their 

workplace and at other locations remained about the same 

over the 5-year period. Those 

employed in other occupations also increased their work 

hours over the 5-year period 

(by 0.9 hour per week); however, all of the increase was in 

the hours they worked at their 

workplace.

Where people worked, 2003 to 2007

Work often is associated with a specific workplace—such 

as a factory, school, office, 

hospital, or other location—

where people perform their 

jobs. In recent years, however, technological developments have provided some 

workers with the ability to 

perform their jobs at other 

locations. Expanded access 

to broadband Internet connections, wireless connectivity, 

and secure data networks provide workers with high-speed 

and secure access to work 

files. Internet data storage allows workers to access stored 

information from any Internet 

connection, and handheld devices such as smartphones assist in managing work-related 

communication from almost 

anywhere. These technological developments and their 

expansion have helped create 

the perception that workers 

today are increasingly working at locations beyond their 

workplace.

Data from the American 

Time Use Survey (ATUS) 

provide a wide range of information about what activities people do with their time, 

such as the amount of time 

spent taking care of a child or 

engaged in educational activities. This summary focuses on 

where people work—whether 

it is at their workplace, home, 

or another location. It examines annual average hours 

worked from 2003 to 2007 to 

determine whether there are 

observable changes in where 

workers performed their jobs. 

In the following analysis, the 

term “working” refers to any 

time that employed people 

spent doing tasks required for a 

job. A person who read workrelated e-mail messages for 10 

minutes on a Saturday is counted as working on that day, as is 

someone who worked a 12-hour 

shift. Time diary data from the 

ATUS capture the time and location of work for all employed 

people, regardless of their usual 

work schedule or arrangement. 

For example, work estimates 

include work that occurred on 

days people were scheduled to 

work and on days they instead 

had off. 

For all years, 2003 to 2007, 

employed people were more 

likely to work at their workplace1

 than at any other location on days they worked, with 

nearly 9 in 10 employed people 

doing at least some work at 

their workplace (see table). 

Additionally, of all the hours 

they worked per week, about 

90 percent were performed at 

their workplace—a figure that 

changed little over this 5-year 

period. The second most common location at which workers performed their jobs was 

at home. On days they worked, 

nearly 1 in 5 employed people 

spent at least some time working at home; this figure was 

approximately the same for all 

years 2003 to 2007. Over this 

period, however, there was a 

slight increase in the percent 

of total weekly work hours that 

employed people worked at 

home, from 6 percent in 2003 

to 7 percent in 2007. Employed 

people also performed work 

at locations other than their 

workplace and home, such as 

at a restaurant, someone else’s 

home, or outside, although they 

worked at these places less 

often—about 3 percent of all 

weekly work hours. 

Other than a slight increase in the percent of total 

weekly hours that employed 

people worked at home, there 

was little change overall in 

where they worked during the 

2003–07 period. Because of 

the nature of their work, some 

employed people would have 

less flexibility than others in 

where they work. For example, 

consider the job duties of security guards, cooks, janitors, 

firefighters, mail carriers, store 

clerks, waiters, and construction workers; these jobs involve 

work that often must be done at a 

specific location because the job 

involves protecting, serving others, delivering, or building—all 

of which are done at a specific 

place.2 Many of the jobs in the 

management, professional, and 

related occupations group involve tasks that are computerbased and, because many of the 

technological developments 

discussed earlier are computerrelated, it is possible that the 

duties associated with these occupations could be more readily performed at locations other 

than one’s workplace.3 Managers, analysts, engineers, accountants, computer programmers, lawyers, and others are 

classified in this group, which 

accounts for 36 percent of all 

employed persons.4 

 In 2003 to 2007, 31 percent 

of people employed in manage-


Percent of employed persons working,1 average hours worked, and percent of hours worked, by location worked and occupation, 

2003 to 2007 annual averages

2003	 2004	 2005	 2006	 2007

Employed persons, total

On days they worked, the percent of persons who worked 2—

	 At workplace	 87.2	 86.9	 87.3	 86.2	 86.5

	 At home	 18.6	 19.2	 19.6	 21.1	 19.9

	 At another location	 9.5	 7.7	 7.3	 8.0	 6.8 		

	 	 	

Average hours worked per week, total	 35.9	 36.3	 35.8	 36.6	 36.8

	 At workplace	 32.2	 32.6	 32.4	 32.7	 33.1

	 At home	 2.3	 2.6	 2.4	 2.7	 2.7

	 At another location	 1.4	 1.1	 1.0	 1.2	 1.1

	 	 	 	

Of total weekly work hours, the percent of hours worked—

	 At workplace	 89.9	 89.7	 90.5	 89.2	 89.9

	 At home	 6.3	 7.2	 6.7	 7.3	 7.4

	 At another location	 3.8	 3.1	 2.7	 3.4	 2.9

	 	 	 	

Employed in management, professional, and related occupations

On days they worked, the percent of persons who worked 2—

	 At workplace	 81.2	 80.7	 80.9	 80.2	 79.6

	 At home	 29.3	 28.5	 30.4	 34.3	 32.9

	 At another location	 12.3	 10.1	 9.1	 10.1	 9.0

	 	 	 	

Average hours worked per week, total	 37.5	 38.5	 37.7	 38.4	 38.7

	 At workplace	 32.2	 32.7	 32.6	 32.6	 32.3

	 At home	 3.6	 4.2	 4.0	 4.4	 5.0

	 At another location	 1.6	 1.6	 1.1	 1.4	 1.4

	 	 	 	

Of total weekly work hours, the percent of hours worked—

	 At workplace	 86.0	 85.1	 86.5	 84.9	 83.7

	 At home	 9.6	 10.9	 10.5	 11.4	 12.8

	 At another location	 4.4	 4.0	 3.0	 3.8	 3.5

Employed in other occupations 3

On days they worked, the percent of persons who worked 2—

	 At workplace	 91.0	 90.8	 91.2	 89.9	 90.6

	 At home	 12.0	 13.4	 13.1	 13.0	 12.2

	 At another location	 7.8	 6.3	 6.2	 6.8	 5.5

	 	 	 	

Average hours worked per week, total	 34.9	 35.0	 34.7	 35.6	 35.8

	 At workplace	 32.2	 32.5	 32.3	 32.7	 33.5

	 At home	 1.5	 1.7	 1.6	 1.8	 1.5

	 At another location	 1.2	 .9	 .9	 1.1	 .9

	 	 	 	

Of total weekly work hours, the percent of hours worked—

	 At workplace	 92.3	 92.7	 92.9	 91.9	 93.4

	 At home	 4.3	 4.8	 4.5	 4.9	 4.2

	 At another location	 3.5	 2.5	 2.6	 3.2	 2.5

1 Includes work at main job and other job(s), and excludes travel related to work. 2 Estimates for the percent of people working at home, a workplace, or anoth

location on days they worked do not sum to 100 percent because some people

worked at more than one location. 3 “Other occupations” refers to all occupations except management, professional, and related occupations.

NOTE: Working at home includes any time persons did work at home and it 

not restricted to persons whose usual workplace is their home. “Another locatio

refers to places other than one’s home or workplace.

The percent of total weekly 

work hours that people in management, professional, and 

related occupations worked 

at home increased from 10 

percent to 13 percent and the 

percent of hours they worked 

at their workplace decreased 

from 86 percent to 84 percent 

from 2003 to 2007. The share 

of total work hours that those 

employed in other occupations 

worked at home remained flat 

from 2003 to 2007 (see chart). 

In summary, people employed in fields where workers 

regularly use personal computers, such as those in management, professional, and related 

occupations, are those most 

likely to be affected by the 

recent development and expansion of technologies that 

facilitate high-speed, secure information exchange. The ATUS 

data show that people working 

in management, professional, 

and related occupations were 

more likely to perform their 

work at locations other than 

their workplace than were 

those employed in other occupations. The data also show 

that people employed in professional, management, and 

related occupations increased 

Location and occupation


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2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Percent of total weekly hours that employed persons worked at home by occupation, 

2003 to 2007 annual averages

Percent

Persons employed in management, professional, and related occupations

Persons employed in other occupations

the hours they worked at home 

over the 2003–07 period.

 This Issues paper was 

prepared by Rachel KrantzKent, an economist in the 

Division of Labor Force Statistics, Office of Employment 

and Unemployment Statistics, 

Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

Washington, DC, 20212. For 

additional information about 

where people work or for a 

technical description of the 

ATUS from which the data 

used in this summary were 

derived, call (202) 691-6339, 

send an e-mail to atusinfo@

bls.gov, or visit the ATUS Web 

site at www.bls.gov/tus/. 

Information in this summary 

will be made available to sensory-impaired individuals upon 

request. Voice phone: (202) 

691-5200. Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339. This 

report is in the public domain 

and may be reproduced without permission. □

1 A workplace is a flexible term 

that refers to the place a person usually works. An accountant’s workplace may be an office building and 

a sales clerk’s workplace may refer to 

a store. The term refers to any place 

that people work, including factories, 

hospitals, schools, workshops, restaurants, and other locations. 2

 For information about which occupations are most and least likely to be 

performed at home, see Mary Dorinda 

Allard and Jill Lacey, Issues in Labor 

Statistics: Work-at-home patterns by occupation, March 2009, available online at: 

www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils72.pdf. 3

 According to the Current Population Survey, almost 30 percent of 

workers in management, professional, 

and related occupations reported working at home in May 2004, and nearly 

two-thirds of all persons who usually 

worked at home were employed in these 

occupations. See Bureau of Labor Statistics, Work at home in 2004, September 2005, available online at: www.bls.

gov/news.release/pdf/homey.pdf. 4

 The Management, professional, and 

related occupations group also includes 

teachers, scientists, and healthcare practitioners and technicians, all of which 

are jobs that to some extent are attached 

to a workplace whether it is a school, 

laboratory, hospital, or clinic. This suggests that there is likely some variation 

in where people within this occupational 

group work. Past research has shown that 

teachers have some flexibility in where 

they perform their job duties, as teachers 

frequently work at home in addition to 

their workplace. For more information 

about teachers, see Rachel KrantzKent, “Teachers’ work patterns: when, 

where, and how much do U.S. teachers 

work?” available online at: www.bls.

gov/opub/mlr/2008/03/art4full.pdf. 5 The sum of the estimates for the 

percent of people working at home, 

a workplace, or another location on 

days they worked exceeds 100 percent 

because some people worked at more 

than one location.

—Notes—