In the 4th quarter of 2020, 12.3% of the employed population reported having worked always or almost always from home in the reference week or in the three weeks before (597.5 thousand people), 1.9 percentage points (pp) (84.4 thousand) less than in the previous quarter. Of these, 474.4 thousand people (79.4%) indicated that the main reason for having worked at home was the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among those having worked always or almost always from home, 94.3% (563.5 thousand) used information and communication technologies (ICT). In other words, they have worked remotely. That estimate represented 11.6% of total employed population, 1.8 pp less than in the previous quarter, and has decreased by 12.6% (80.9 thousand) from the 3rd quarter of 2020.
As seen in the previous quarter, there was no difference between the average number of hours weekly worked at home and those worked in another place (37 hours in both places) (estimates that exclude the employed population absent from work). If considered the total employed population, these averages drop to 35 and 33 weekly hours, respectively.
Among the employed population who has not worked at home in the reference week or in the previous three, 166.9 thousand (4.5%) were absent from work during that period, 15.4% (25.6 thousand) of which due to the COVID--19 pandemic, down 60.6% (39.4 thousand) from the 3rd quarter of 2020.