This just in – remote work is growing in America, men cook more and TV still rules the nation.
The US Department of Labour just published the results from their American time use survey of 2014, and the results are pretty interesting. You can check the link for the full report, but we’ve picked up a few things that we thought were neat.
Since we’re huge fans of working from home at Toggl, we were excited to learn that the trend of remote working is (slowly) growing – 23% of people said they did all or most of their work from home (compared to 19% in 2003).
People hoping to enjoy the benefits of remote working in the future should put their money in education – 39% of people of age 25 over with at least a Bachelor’s degree said they could work from home.
By comparison, only 12% of people with less than a high school diploma had that opportunity.
Here’s that plus a few more facts in infographic-style (or you know, literally as an infographic):
<click for the big version>
Towards household equality?
Another thing we found interesting, is that while women still spend considerably more time on household activities, the gap between the genders is slowly closing. Particularly in food preparation and clean up, 43% of men rolled up their sleeves in 2014 – which was up from 35% in 2003.
We also found that overall, men are still slightly more into mowing the lawn and gardening duties (10.8% compared to 7.9% of women). They seem to like it too, given that men spent an average of 2.4 hours per day on mowing the lawn, compared to the 1.6 hours put in by women (maybe women are just more efficient?).
Friendships aren’t dead
If you’ve just entered your 30’s, prepare to get busy. The survey found that the 35-44 age group is the least leisurely of all people. At the same time, they spend more time on caring for and helping their “household members” (that’s code for “kids”) and on working.
Obviously, leisure time goes up significantly when you’re older. Young people can’t complain either.
Also obviously, younger people spend more time on computer games. Interestingly enough – and contrary to the popular belief – hanging out with friends isn’t dead, as it still outranks time spent on gaming and leisurely computer use. Though the story is a bit different for people aged 19 and under, as they stand out for being more inclined to spend time gaming (although Call of Duty counts as socializing, kind of).
As for America’s favourite pastime? The top spot still belongs to TV.
Are you keeping up with the times? Let us know if you’re noticing these trends play a role in your life.
Or share these adorable colourful figures with your friends on Twitter.
Mart has a background in anthropology - a discipline which has turned people-watching into a science. He most enjoys working on projects that make you go from “that’s stupid” to “hmmm”.
