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The U.S. economy has experienced a remarkable recovery from the COVID recession of 2020. The much-feared scarring effects of the pandemic never materialized: Employment, labor force participation and gross domestic product are right back in line with projections made before the pandemic struck.
And there is one important way in which the U.S. economy is doing even better than the standard numbers suggest. One silver lining of the COVID-19 crisis has been a major change in the way Americans work; we're wasting a lot less time and fewer resources on commuting.
Although it has its downsides — what doesn't? — the shift to remote and hybrid work is, overall, a very good thing, even if (or maybe especially if) Elon Musk hates it.
The shift to remote work is also a teachable moment, in at least two ways. First, it's an object lesson in the fact that taking advantage of new technological possibilities often requires major changes in how business operates. Second, it's a reminder that economic numbers like GDP, while useful, can sometimes be misleading indicators of what really matters in life.
First things first: The reduction in commuting time is a seriously big deal. Before the pandemic, the average American adult spent about 0.28 hours per day, or more than 100 hours a year, on work-related travel. (Since not all adults are employed, the number for workers was considerably higher.) By 2021, that number had fallen by about one-quarter.
Putting a dollar value on the benefits from reduced commuting is tricky. You can't simply multiply the time saved by average wages, because people probably don't view time spent on the road (yes, most people drive to work) as fully lost. On the other hand, there are many other expenses, from fuel to wear and tear to psychological strain, associated with commuting. On the third hand, the option of remote or hybrid work tends to be available mainly to highly educated workers with above-average wages and hence a high value associated with their time.