Workplaces have reached a new hybrid-work status quo, but the population of hybrid and remote workers in the United States does not reflect the larger population of workers, The New York Times reported.

Roughly one-tenth of workers are working in a hybrid arrangement, the Times found in an analysis of government data, and a similar portion are working entirely remotely. The other 80 percent work fully in person. The Times noted that out of the 143 million U.S. workers between 18 and 64,  the biggest group of workers have no college education. But when the Times zeroed in on just the hybrid and remote workers, college educated workers become the most prominent. That led it to conclude that working from home is, to a great extent, a luxury for the highly educated.

The data revealed inequities that have become entrenched, according to the Times: While white-collar workers were in many cases able to do their jobs safely at home during the pandemic, lower-income workers often had to continue to work in person, even when health risks were highest.

The data also showed that white and Asian workers are more likely to work from home than other groups. That's because they are more likely to hold office jobs, which more easily lend themselves to remote work part or all of the time.

White workers are overrepresented in the remote work force, the analysis found; although they represent 59 percent of all workers and 66 percent of remote workers. Hispanic and Black workers are underrepresented; Hispanics comprise 20 percent of all workers, but only 10 percent work remotely. Black and Hispanic workers, meanwhile, more frequently hold jobs in food service, construction, retail, health care and other fields that require them to be in person.

The youngest workers are working from home less often, analysis of the data found, with the greatest proportion of remote and hybrid workers being in the 35 to 44 age range. The data suggested that workers in their 20s are more likely to be in the office full time than their older colleagues in order to avail themselves of the benefits of in-person work, such as socialization, mentorship and contact with the boss.

Overall, women are more likely than men to work remotely. One reason is that more women have college degrees, with many of them in professional jobs in which flexible arrangements are available. Women without college degrees are more likely to work at a desk in an administrative or customer support role, the data revealed, while men without college degrees more often work in construction, manufacturing and other jobs that can only be done in person.

The move to remote work has also benefited those with disabilities, the Times reported. Workers with disabilities are 22 percent more likely to work fully remotely than otherwise similar workers without disabilities, but only slightly more likely to work a hybrid schedule, according to research from the Economic Innovation Group. Workers with disabilities that limit their mobility, such as those who use wheelchairs, were particularly likely to benefit from the opportunity to work entirely from home, the Times found.

Employers should “understand the significant difference between full-remote and hybrid-remote,” the researchers wrote. “A labor market that includes a greater number of full-remote jobs will open the door for far more otherwise qualified workers.”

The data in the Times article came from the Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of 60,000 U.S. households conducted by the Census Bureau. Respondents were asked how many hours they worked the previous week, and how many of those hours they teleworked or worked from home. Fully remote workers are those who worked all of their hours remotely; hybrid workers are those who worked some but not all of their hours remotely. Respondents who were not employed, or who did not work at all in the previous week, were excluded from the survey. the data shown is for calendar year 2023. Figures are rounded throughout.