SYNTHESIS INE@COVID-19, 2 mar-2021

March . 02 . 2021 SYNTH SIS IN @ COVID-19 www.ine.pt page 10/23 Communication Unit | tel: +351 21 842 61 10 | sci@ine.pt The share of the employed population working remotely decreased to 11.6% Most of the characteristics observed in this survey report to the situation in one pre-defined week known as reference week. The reference weeks, over which the respondents are distributed, are evenly distributed over the quarter. In the 4 th quarter of 2020, the employed population was estimated at around 4,859.5 thousand people. Of these, 597.5 thousand (12.3%) worked from home 1 in the reference week or the previous three weeks, given that: • There was no significant difference between the percentages of men and women in this situation: 12.2% and 12.4%, respectively; • 563.5 thousand did so using information and communication technologies (remote working), which represents 11.6% of the total employed population and 94.3% of those who worked from home; • Área Metropolitana de Lisboa was the region with the highest proportion of employees working from home: 23.3%; • There was no difference in the average number of hours worked between those who worked from home and those who did so outside their home (37 hours in both); • 474,400 (79.1% of those who worked from home) indicated that the main reason for this was the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those who mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic as the main reason for working from home: • 50.4% were women; • 56.5% lived in Área Metropolitana de Lisboa; • 71.4% had a tertiary education degree; • 91.6% were employees; • 61.3% were specialists in intellectual and scientific activities; • 86.1% were working in the tertiary sector, of which 8.4% worked in education. More information available at: Labour force survey ad hoc module – 4 th quarter of 2020 (11 February 2021) 1 In this summary, the expression worked from home applies to the group of those who always or almost always worked from home and the expression did not work from home applies to those who did not work from home or did not always or almost always work from home.