People Working From Home During the Pandemic Spent Less Time Eating Away From Home

The emergence and spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States in early 2020 was quickly followed by social-distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders. As a result, many people worked from home during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in changes to their daily schedules. In a recent study, USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) researchers used 24-hour time diary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2010–20 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to examine how daily time allocations of individuals who worked from home changed during the pandemic compared with those who worked away from home. ATUS data through 2021 are now publicly available and have been added to the 2010–20 data set that is discussed in this article.