Recent data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that just because an employer doesn’t allow you to work from home, doesn’t mean you don’t work from home.
Jobs in the financial sector provide the most workplace flexibility. Fifty-seven percent of workers in that industry could work from home, according to BLS. Likewise, in professional and business services, along with information services, nearly half of people report being able to work remotely.
Predictably, in other industries—like education and health care, construction, and retail— it is much harder to complete work duties from home. Yet, when these professions do work from home, it is often because the day at the office was not enough. For workers in education and health services, nearly 39 percent report working from home because they needed to finish or catch up on work.
While people in the financial sector work from home over twice as much as people in education and healthcare, a quarter of them cited doing so due to personal preference. An additional quarter of workers in professions that have high rates of at-home work chose that schedule due to personal scheduling flexibility.
These Are the Industries That Work From Home
Working Remotely
Description
This chart shows the percent of total workers who can work from home by industry, 2017 to 2018.
