We quantify the commute time savings associated with work from home, drawing on data for 27 countries. The average daily time savings when working from home is 72 minutes in our sample. We estimate that work from home saved about two hours per week per worker in 2021 and 2022, and that it will save about one hour per week per worker after the pandemic ends. Workers allocate 40 percent of their time savings to their jobs and about 11 percent to caregiving activities. People living with children allocate more of their time savings to caregiving.

More on this topic

BFI Working Paper·May 28, 2026

Explaining the Historical Rise and Recent Decline in Social Security Disability Insurance Enrollment

Manasi Deshpande, Maxwell Kellogg, Magne Mogstad, and Kuan-Ju Tseng
Topics: Employment & Wages
BFI Working Paper·Apr 29, 2026

Intermediate Input Prices and the Labor Share

Juanma Castro-Vincenzi and Benny Kleinman
Topics: Employment & Wages
BFI Working Paper·Mar 20, 2026

Physician Competition: Entry and Substitution

Joshua Gottlieb and Sean Nicholson
Topics: Employment & Wages, Health care