Coronavirus caused radical and uneven disruption to work and people’s personal lives around the world. The question for businesses, policymakers and employees today is how remote working evolves in the longer term and whether they can harness its benefits.
When Covid-19 struck, decision makers needed to know how many people could work outside the workplace, in order to forecast the economic damage and plan responses. We used past surveys to classify which activities could be carried out from home and which — such as those requiring protective or safety equipment or working directly with the public — could not. We estimated that 37 per cent of US jobs could be done entirely from home.
Yet this average masks stark differences by location, activity and income level in workers’ abilities to keep their jobs without risking exposure to Covid-19. Nearly 90 per cent of roles in finance, with a median hourly wage of about $35, can be done from home. Almost none can be in food preparation, cleaning or farming, which typically pay less than $15 per hour. Roughly half of the workers in technology hubs such as Silicon Valley could stay at home, but far fewer in entertainment-driven Las Vegas.