Ian Patrick, FISM News

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A new report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) shows that commuters working from home save an average of 72 minutes a day according to data gathered from 27 countries between 2021 and 2022.

When separated by country, the data shows that China ended up saving the most time at 102 minutes while Serbia saw the least amount of time saved at 51 minutes. The United States ended up at the lower part of the savings list at 55 minutes. By contrast, Canada saved 65 minutes and the United Kingdom saved 73 minutes.

NBER estimates “that work from home saved about two hours per week per worker” when taking all workers into account.

Broken down by gender, men on average saved more time commuting than women considering the data from all 27 countries. The only data averaging where women saved more time working from home than men is in the 25-29 age group. This group of women saved 76 minutes of time while the same age group of men saved 74 minutes.

As for how these saved hours are spent, NBER says that workers will use about 40% for “extra work on primary and secondary jobs.”

“Another 34 percent goes to leisure, and 11 percent goes to caregiving activities,” the report adds.

As if attempting to sweeten the pot, NBER writes that working from home “also means lighter loads on transport systems and, in particular, less congestion at peak travel times.” The data also “suggests that work from home reduces economy-wide energy consumption and pollution.”