key: cord-0809271-k3izzd8a authors: Gaffney, Adam W; Himmelstein, David U.; Woolhandler, Steffie title: Trends and Disparities in Teleworking During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the USA: May 2020–February 2021 date: 2021-08-17 journal: J Gen Intern Med DOI: 10.1007/s11606-021-07078-9 sha: 199e9f0279e5d4c472f404f85ad6a73d2fc35f9e doc_id: 809271 cord_uid: k3izzd8a nan We analyzed the May 2020-February 2021 Current Population Surveys (CPS) (obtained via IPUMS 4 ) which asked: "At any time in the last 4 weeks, did (you/name) telework or work at home for pay because of the coronavirus pandemic?" (Workers already working from home before the pandemic were categorized "no"). We examined monthly trends in teleworking among adults 18-64 years who had a job and were at work the preceding week, and differences in teleworking in May 2020 and February 2021 by workers' region; age; sex; race/ethnicity; immigration status; education; family income; and disability status. We examined differences by presence in workers' households of individuals at elevated risk of severe COVID-19, including disabled individuals (among workers themselves not disabled) and adults ages ≥65, 75, or 85 years. We used STATA/SE 16.1, CPS' weights, Davern's method 5 to calculate approximate standard errors, 6 and Pearson's chi-square tests. Our sample included n=410,248 individuals. Figure 1 shows employment trends by telework status. In May 2020, a weighted 45.2 million workers (37.6% of those at work) were teleworking due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while 74.9 million (62.4%) were not newly teleworking. The number working but not teleworking rose to 105.3 million in October 2020, falling slightly to 102.1 million in February 2021, when 31.3 million were teleworking (23.5% of those employed). In February 2021, the 5 jobs with the most teleworkers were managers, software developers, elementary/middle school teachers, accountants/auditors, and customer service representatives. The jobs with the most individuals working (but not teleworking) were driver/sales workers and truck drivers; managers; nurses; first-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers; and retail sales person. Table 1 presents characteristics of teleworkers in May 2020 and February 2021. In both months, workers in New England were most likely to be teleworking, while those in East South Central states least likely (p<0.01). Black and Hispanic, compared to white workers, were less likely to be teleworking in both months; those of other/multiple race were more likely (p<0.01). Men, immigrants, and workers with less education or lower incomes were less likely to be teleworking (p<0.01). For instance, in February, 41.6% of those with family incomes ≥$150,000 teleworked due to COVID-19 vs. 8.6% of those earning <$25,000. Workers in large (vs. smaller) families were less likely to be teleworking in both months (p<0.01). Workers in households with one or more adults ≥65 years were also less likely to be teleworking (p<0.05), as were workers with disabilities (in May) and those living with disabled individuals (p<0.01). Up to 30 million individuals may have returned to the workplace after the initial COVID-19 wave. There were disparities in who remained in the workplace, and implications for families: those employed but not teleworking lived in larger families and were more likely to live with individuals at increased risk of severe COVID-19. Our findings complement analyses suggesting that occupational exposures contributed to COVID-19 disparities, 1, 2 and that teleworking (and workplace closures for "non-essential" jobs that cannot be performed from home) may have been underutilized during the pandemic, especially during the severe surge this winter. For physicians, these findings underscore the importance of occupational history in assessing COVID-19 risk, not merely of patients but of their family members. Our study has limitations. CPS' definition of teleworking excludes those teleworking prior to COVID-19, causing us to underestimate the prevalence of teleworking and disparities in teleworking. 3 We do not know whether those reporting teleworking were working from home at all times, or only sometimes. We also lacked data on COVID-19 incidence in our sample. Workplace closures are an important public health intervention in the face of respiratory pandemics. Policies should increase equity in teleworking during pandemics, ensure support for displaced workers, and mandate adequate protections for those who remain in the workplace. Occupation and risk of severe COVID-19: prospective cohort study of 120 075 UK Biobank participants Telework Before Illness Onset Among Symptomatic Adults Aged ≥18 Years With and Without COVID-19 in 11 Outpatient Health Care Facilities -United States Not everybody can work from home: Black and Hispanic workers are much less likely to be able to telework. Economic Policy Institute Integrated Public Use Microdata Series Estimating Regression Standard Errors with Data from the Current Population Survey's Public Use File Recent Trends in Veteran Unemployment as Measured in the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey. RAND National Defense Research Institute Corresponding Author: Adam W Gaffney, MD, MPH; Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA, USA (e-mail: agaffney@challiance.org).