A comparison of hours of work at home estimates between the Current Population Survey and the American Time Use Survey

This article analyzes the accuracy of estimates of telework hours in the Current Population Survey (CPS) by comparing them with estimates based on responses from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) from October 2022 to December 2023. Differences between the surveys in how telework is measured are discussed. Estimated weekly telework in the ATUS exceeds the estimate in the CPS by 1.6 to 3.1 hours per week depending on how telework is measured. However, estimates of the total number of hours worked, irrespective of location, are similar between the surveys. In this article, I assess the accuracy of estimates of telework hours from the Current Population Survey (CPS), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) main labor force survey, by comparing these estimates with estimates of work from home from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), a time-diary survey also sponsored by BLS.