Remote Work

Abstract

We are living through a monumental change in work. Experiments during the pandemic turned into regular operations, and have had a profound impact on perceptions of the viability of remote work. I do not lightly use the word profound. The trend reverses more than two centuries of separating the location of work and residences. That separation has deep roots, and reflects something fundamental about the gains to society from separating work from other activities. All developed countries have this feature. The pandemic brought about an acceleration of remote work. To appreciate how suddenly this arrived, consider that two years ago less than 25% of the U.S. workforce participated in some sort of remote work at home, and it was typically less than half their work hours. During the height of the pandemic, however, approximately 40% of the U.S. labor force participated in remote work, and it was full time at home.