More than 40 per cent of employed people were regularly working from home during the first half of August, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Bjorn Jarvis, Head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, said: "Prior to the pandemic, the percentage of employed people working from home on a regular basis had been steadily increasing by around a percentage point every two years. Our latest data for August 2021, as the Delta period impacts were deepening, are showing an 8.4 percentage point jump to 40.6 per cent."
Working from home continued to be more common in some occupations. Close to two-thirds (64 per cent) of managers and professionals were doing it regularly in August 2021, compared with around a quarter (25 per cent) of people across other occupations.
"Interestingly, while the pandemic has seen a large shift in people working from home, there haven't been similarly large changes in other working arrangements such as working Monday to Friday only. Working arrangements other than working from home have generally followed pre-pandemic trends," Mr. Jarvis said.
| Aug-15 | Aug-17 | Aug-19 | Aug-21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regularly worked from home in job or business | 29.8 | 30.9 | 32.2 | 40.6 |
| Monday to Friday only | 51.1 | 49.7 | 50.9 | 52.4 |
| Had an agreement to work flexible hours | 31.9 | 32.7 | 34.1 | 35.6 |
| Usually worked extra hours or overtime | 35.6 | 34.9 | 34.1 | 33.9 |
| Usually required to be on call or standby | 23.9 | 23.8 | 22.0 | 22.5 |
| Usually worked shift work | 15.9 | 16.1 | 15.6 | 14.8 |
