From typewriters to telecommuting: insights from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 on four decades of remote work

Drawing on decades of longitudinal data, this article examines how telework trends have evolved over the working lives of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) cohort. The analysis highlights changes in the frequency of working from home, with particular attention to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Telework patterns within the cohort are also examined by sex, educational attainment, race and ethnicity, and region. In the 1980s, when typewriters were still common in the workplace and personal computers were only beginning to replace them, it was difficult to find jobs that allowed for telework.1 In those days, the working lives of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) cohort were just beginning. The survey began in 1979, when respondents were 14 to 21 years old, and has followed these individuals for more than four decades.