{"title":"Time use, college attainment, and the working-from-home revolution","authors":"Benjamin Cowan","doi":"10.1007/s00148-024-01036-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>I demonstrate that the profound change in working from home (WFH) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is concentrated among individuals with college degrees. Relative to 2015–2019, the number of minutes worked from home on “post-pandemic” (August 2021–December 2022) weekdays increased by 78 min for college graduates; for non-graduates, the increase was 22 min. The share of work done at home (for those who worked at all) increased by 22% for graduates and 7% for non-graduates. I examine how time-use patterns change for college graduates relative to non-graduates over the same period. Average minutes worked changed little for either group. Daily time spent traveling (e.g., commuting) fell by 21 min for college graduates and 6 min for non-graduates. College graduates experience a relative shift from eating out to eating at home, an increase in free time, and an increase in time spent with children, with the latter effect concentrated among fathers. Thus, while the gender gap in childcare among college graduates may be diminished by the WFH revolution, gaps in children’s outcomes by parents’ college attainment may be exacerbated by it.</p>","PeriodicalId":48013,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Population Economics","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Population Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-024-01036-5","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
I demonstrate that the profound change in working from home (WFH) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is concentrated among individuals with college degrees. Relative to 2015–2019, the number of minutes worked from home on “post-pandemic” (August 2021–December 2022) weekdays increased by 78 min for college graduates; for non-graduates, the increase was 22 min. The share of work done at home (for those who worked at all) increased by 22% for graduates and 7% for non-graduates. I examine how time-use patterns change for college graduates relative to non-graduates over the same period. Average minutes worked changed little for either group. Daily time spent traveling (e.g., commuting) fell by 21 min for college graduates and 6 min for non-graduates. College graduates experience a relative shift from eating out to eating at home, an increase in free time, and an increase in time spent with children, with the latter effect concentrated among fathers. Thus, while the gender gap in childcare among college graduates may be diminished by the WFH revolution, gaps in children’s outcomes by parents’ college attainment may be exacerbated by it.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Population Economics is an international quarterly that publishes original theoretical and applied research in all areas of population economics.
Micro-level topics examine individual, household or family behavior, including household formation, marriage, divorce, fertility choices, education, labor supply, migration, health, risky behavior and aging. Macro-level investigations may address such issues as economic growth with exogenous or endogenous population evolution, population policy, savings and pensions, social security, housing, and health care.
The journal also features research into economic approaches to human biology, the relationship between population dynamics and public choice, and the impact of population on the distribution of income and wealth. Lastly, readers will find papers dealing with policy issues and development problems that are relevant to population issues.The journal is published in collaboration with POP at UNU-MERIT, the Global Labor Organization (GLO) and the European Society for Population Economics (ESPE).Officially cited as: J Popul Econ Factor (RePEc): 13.576 (July 2018) Rank 69 of 2102 journals listed in RePEc