Author: Chi Wong
Last year, we showed that working from home remained higher than it has been since the beginning of the data in 2005, and that only a small handful of counties feature more than half their residents living and working in the same county. Does the latest data contradict either finding?
Working from home endures
The 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year data indicates that while working from home has declined slightly, it is still nowhere near the pre-COVID level. At roughly 845,000, we are now at 16% of the working population continuing to work from home, more than double the 2019 level and still five times more than the 2005 level.
| Year | Number of North Carolinians working from home | Percent of working population |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 124,086 | 3.2% |
| 2019 | 331,256 | 6.7% |
| 2021 | 917,620 | 18.8% |
| 2022 | 863,191 | 16.8% |
| 2023 | 844,999 | 16.1% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, 2005 to 2023. Note that the Census did not publish 1-year estimates in 2020 due to difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic. | ||
While tensions press on between workers and return-to-office mandates, difficult labor market conditions for workers may have created pressure for workers to accept jobs with in-office requirements throughout 2024. Time will tell if this bears out as a greater decline in working from home in next year’s data.
Cross-county commuting remains prevalent
As working from home steadily declines, we might also expect to see both an increase in commuting time and a similar, if not smaller number of counties with a majority of jobs held by residents living and working in the same county (hence referred to as a majority within-area share). In the case of commuting time, the average time in 2023 was at 25.3 minutes, and has all but returned to the pre-COVID high of 25.7 in 2019. As for within-area shares, the number of counties with a majority within-area share went up slightly from 10 to 12, but persists at a historic low:
New to the list this year are Cherokee County and Macon County. Similar to Dare and Watauga County, these two counties lie in the far western portion of the state, which make major transportation corridors, and therefore other regional labor markets, harder to access.
| List of NC Counties with 50% or More Jobs Held by Residents Living and Working in the Same County, 2022 | |
|---|---|
| Buncombe County | Macon County |
| Catawba County | Mecklenburg County |
| Cherokee County | New Hanover County |
| Dare County | Pitt County |
| Forsyth County | Wake County |
| Guilford County | Watauga County |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin Destination Employment Statistics, 2022 | |
For yet another year, the available data highlights the importance of considering commutes and thinking regionally beyond county lines when it comes to labor market issues. To further emphasize this point, the next blog takes a closer look at commuting patterns for the western North Carolina counties whose unemployment rate was most impacted by Helene.