The Allocation of Time and Remote Work

Abstract

Motivated by the post-2020 shift toward remote and hybrid work, this paper studies how workers reallocated time across jobs that differ in remote intensity and the resulting productivity effects. Using the American Time Use Survey from 2018-2024 and an occupation based remotability measure, I document three results. First, relative to 2018 and 2019, workers in more remote jobs spend less time working and more time in leisure, with little change in home production, shopping, or childcare. Commuting time falls, but explains only a small share of the decline in work time. These patterns are corroborated in the Gallup Workplace Panel from 2019-2025 using individual level measures of remote work and weekly hours. Second, the reductions in work time are concentrated among men, singles, and workers without children. Third, despite lower work time in remote intensive jobs, industries with greater remote intensity experienced faster labor productivity growth from 2019 to 2023. To interpret this combination of lower work time and higher productivity growth, I estimate an augmented Roy model with heterogeneous preferences and comparative advantage. The model implies that post pandemic productivity gains reflect reallocation toward more productive, remote intensive industries and selection of relatively productive workers into those industries.

Keywords: leisure, remote work, time use, wages, working from home. JEL Codes: D13, D23, E24, G18, J22, M54, R3

JEL Classification: D13, D23, E24, G18, J22, M54, R3