Telecommuting Skews Affluent

Here's a reason to doubt telecommuting as a silver bullet for congestion in growing regions: most people don't have the option.

1 minute read

July 13, 2017, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


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Mike McCune (mccune 934) / Flickr

Sarah Kessler takes the ongoing debate about telecommuting from home (after linking to opinions on either side of the issue) a step further, by bringing up an under-reported point about the demographics of remote work: it's an "option (some would say obligation) disproportionately given to wealthy, well-educated workers."

In fact, "[l]ess educated, poorer people are much less likely to have the option (or the mandate) to work some hours from home," adds Kessler, citing recently released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The article includes more detail on the findings of the "American Time Use Survey" for 2016, as released on June 27, 2017.

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