April 19, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Over one quarter of full-time workers have flexible schedules

In May 2001, about 29 million full-time wage and salary workers had flexible work schedules that allowed them to vary the time they began or ended work.

Percent of full-time wage and salary workers with flexible schedules, May, selected years, 1985-2001
[Chart data—TXT]

The proportion of workers with flexible schedules was 28.8 percent in 2001, slightly higher than the 27.6 percent recorded in May 1997 and nearly double the proportion of 10 years earlier.

Men were somewhat more likely to work flexible schedules than women in 2001(30.0 percent and 27.4 percent, respectively). Flexible schedules were more common among white workers (30.0 percent) than black (21.2 percent) or Hispanic workers (19.8 percent). The proportions working flexible schedules had risen slightly for most worker groups since 1997.

These data are a product of the May 2001 supplement to the Current Population Survey. Learn more about flexible work schedules in "Workers on Flexible and Shift Schedules in 2001," USDL news release 02-225.