Fed Publications

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 107(15), Fourth Quarter 2025, PDF, BibTeX, OTE Blog Post, RPS Website

Abstract: This paper documents the prevalence of work from home (WFH) in six U.S. data sets. These surveys measure WFH using different questions, reference periods, samples, and survey collection methods. Once we construct samples and WFH measures that are comparable across surveys, all surveys broadly agree about the trajectory of aggregate WFH since the Covid-19 outbreak. The most important source of disagreement in the level of WFH across surveys is in WFH by self-employed workers; by contrast, surveys closely agree on rates of WFH among employees. All surveys agree that in 2024 WFH remains substantially above pre-pandemic levels. We also highlight that full-time WFH drove most of the increase in aggregate WFH during and after the pandemic but part-time WFH has become a more significant contributor since 2022. Finally, we validate findings from survey data by comparing self-reported commuting behavior to cellphone geolocation data from Google Workplace Visits.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 107(14), Fourth Quarter 2025, PDF, BibTeX, OTE Blog Post, VoxEU Column, RPS Website

Abstract: This paper documents heterogeneity in work from home (WFH) across six U.S. data sets. These surveys agree that pre-pandemic differences in WFH rates by sex, education, and state of residence expanded following the Covid-19 outbreak. The surveys also show similar post-pandemic trends in WFH by firm size and industry. We show that an industry’s WFH potential was highly correlated with actual WFH during the first year or two of the Covid-19 pandemic, but that this correlation was much weaker before and after the pandemic, suggesting that WFH potential is a necessary but not sufficient determinant in the decision to WFH.

 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 107(2), First Quarter 2025, 1-50, PDF, BibTeX

Abstract: In 1979, the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) began following a group of US residents born between 1957 and 1964. It has continued to re-interview these same individuals for more than four decades. Despite this long sampling period, attrition remains modest. This paper shows that after 40 years of data collection, the remaining NLYS79 sample continues to be broadly representative of their national cohorts with regard to key labor market outcomes. Life-cycle profiles of employment, hours worked, and earnings tightly track those in the Current Population Survey for the same cohorts.  Moreover, the distribution of lifetime earnings over the age range 25 to 55 closely aligns with the distribution found in Social Security Administration data for the same cohorts. Our results suggest that the NLSY79 can continue to provide useful data for economists and other social scientists studying life-cycle and lifetime labor market outcomes, including earnings inequality.

Proceedings of the 2022 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, September 2022, PDF, Handout, BibTeX, RPS Website, Media Coverage: FAZ Summary Article (in German)

Abstract: We argue that hours per worker are at least as important as employment rates when it comes to projecting future labor market trends and potential output. Based on data for 18 European countries and the US over the two decades prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we document that hours worked per person fell in most countries, driven by a uniform decline in hours per worker. By contrast, employment rates increased in most countries. We present a stylized model in which a decrease in the fixed costs of working rationalizes the pattern of decreasing hours per worker and increasing employment rates. Although the COVID-19 pandemic increased the fixed costs of working in the short run, recent survey evidence from the US suggests that changing work arrangements since the pandemic had the opposite effect and are likely to persist into the future.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, First Quarter 2019, 101(1), 45-56, PDF, BibTeX, Online Appendix 

Abstract: In this article, we document that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Conference Board’s Total Economy Database (TED) have substantially revised their measures of hours worked over time. Relying on the data used by Rogerson (2006) and Ohanian et al. (2008), we find that, for 2003, hours worked per person in Europe is 18 percent lower than hours worked in the United States. Using the 2016 releases of the same data for 2003 yields a gap that is 40 percent smaller—that is, only 11 percent lower. Using labor force survey data, which are less sub- ject to data revisions, we find a Europe-U.S. hours gap of –19 percent.