The percentage of people in the United States who work remotely has been on the rise in recent years, and is expected to continue to grow in the coming years.
We polled 1,593 US residents in July, 2022, in order to find out how many of them currently work remotely based on gender and age.
In this article, we’ve compiled the findings of our in-depth research on America remote work statistics as well as a few additional figures.
USA Remote Work Statistics 2022 – Key Findings
- 30% of people reported working remotely at least once a week
- 43.2% reported not working remotely at least once a week
- 26.8% of residents cited not having a job at the moment
- The 18-24 age group had the highest number of people working remotely: 34.9%
- The 55-64 age group reported the lowest number of people working remotely: 26.3%
- The 18-24 age group had the highest number of an unemployed population: 34.8%
Remote work Scene in the US
According to a report by Upwork and the Freelancers Union, freelancing in the United States is expected to grow by 3.7% in 2022. This growth is attributed to the increasing popularity of remote work, which allows professionals more flexibility and freedom when it comes to where they work. (Source: Upwork.com)
The report also found that the number of Americans working remotely has increased by 4.5 million since 2005. In addition, the number of freelancers in the United States is expected to reach 57 million by 2028. (Source: Upwork.com)
Overall, males are more likely to have an option of working remotely
As expected, Gender wise, the results were different
- 32.7% of males reported working remotely at least once a week
- 27.3% of females reported working remotely at least once a week
The results show that males are more likely to work remotely at least once a week as compared to females.
Self-described remote employment statistics by age groups
From the above data, we can draw the following conclusions:
- The 18-24 age group has the highest number of remote workers 34.9%, as well the highest number of unemployment 34.8%
- 48.9% of people in the 45-54 age group could not work remotely at least once a week
- The 25-34 and 35-44 age groups showed similarity in their remote work situation: 31.1%
- Only 23.6% of those with the 55-64 age group could work remotely once in a week
Age Groups with The Least Number of Remote Workers
We discovered that the following age groups reported not working remotely the most:
- 45-54
- 55-64
For 18-24 age group, when asked “Can you still work remotely, at least once a week?” the breakdown by gender for the answer “No” was as follows:
- Males: 25.3%
- Females: 37.3%
For 25-34 age group, when asked “Can you still work remotely, at least once a week?” the breakdown by gender for the answer “No” was as follows:
- Males: 41.7%
- Females: 42.9%
Based on the above, we can conclude that a woman between the ages of 25 and 34 is more likely to say that she cannot work remotely at least once a week. Additionally, we can see that for the 18-24 age group, females are more likely than males to report not being able to work remotely.
The Unemployed (I don’t have a job at the moment”) Set
- Overall, the largest amount of “I don’t have a job at the moment” answers occurred in 18-24 age group – 34.8%
Equally, when adjusted by gender, the “I don’t have a job at the moment” answers dominated the same age group
- 29.4% of all males in 18-24 reported not having a job at the moment
- 42.4% of all females in the same age group of 18-24 reported not having a job at the moment
The Benefits of a Remote Work Force
- A study by Global Workplace Analytics found that working from home can save employers up to $11,000 per year per employee. The study also found that employees who work from home are more productive and take fewer sick days. (Source: GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com)
- In addition, a study by FlexJobs found that telecommuting can save employees up to $4,000 per year in transportation costs. (Source: FlexJobs.com)
- Finally, a study by Forbes found that remote work can help reduce carbon emissions by 1.8 billion tons per year. (Source: Forbes.com)
The future of remote work in the US
- A study by Upwork found that 63% of companies will allow employees to work remotely in the future. (Source: Upwork.com)
- Another study found that 70% of millennials would quit their jobs if they didn’t have the option to work remotely. (Source: Upwork.com)
- The report also found that the number of Americans working remotely has increased by 159% since 2005. (Source: Upwork.com)
- Additionally, a study by FlexJobs found that there will be a 26% growth in remote jobs by 2025. (Source: FlexJobs.com)
Does our Data reflect the official data?
- Our survey does reflect the official data in terms of the percentage of employees who are able to work remotely. In our survey, 30% of respondents said they were able to work remotely at least once a week, while the official data states that 23.6% of respondents are able to work remotely at least once a week.
- However, our data does not reflect the official data in terms of the percentage of employees who are unable to work remotely. In our survey, 43.2% of respondents were unable to work remotely at least once a week, while the official data states that 14.8% of respondents are unable to work remotely at least once a week.
- Additionally, our data does not reflect the official data in terms of the percentage of employees who are unemployed. According to our survey, 26.8% of respondents said they were unemployed, while the official data states that 6.7% of respondents are unemployed.
- In conclusion, our data does reflect the official data in some respects, but not in others. It is possible that the discrepancies are due to the fact that our survey was not as comprehensive as the official data, or that there are other factors at play. Nevertheless, our data does provide a good snapshot of the remote work landscape in the United States.
Methodology
- We conducted a Google poll of 1,593 people in the United States on July 2022.
We asked one simple question: “Can you still work remotely at least once a week?” With the following replies:
- Yes
- No
- I don’t have a job at the moment
Survey Characteristics
- RMSE score – 6.5%
- The survey was conducted online
- The sample size was 1,593 people
- The responses were weighted by age, gender, and region
- The data was collected in July 2022
