Working from a new home? Remote-work potential and urban out-migration in Sweden

Abstract

This paper examines how the potential to work from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to out-migration decisions of the working-age population of large Swedish cities. Using a register of microdata of individuals in the period 2015–2021, the results of this study show that having the potential to WFH significantly increased the likelihood of moving out of large cities and of moving to the hinterlands compared to the usual internal migration flows before the pandemic. Such results highlight the new-found relevance of the ability to WFH (occupational characteristic) and the potentially associated experience (working arrangement) as drivers affecting individuals’ residential location.