Working from Home after COVID-19: Evidence from Job Postings in 20 Countries

42 Pages Posted: 23 Mar 2022 Last revised: 26 Mar 2024

See all articles by Pawel Adrjan

Pawel Adrjan

Indeed.com; University of Oxford, Regent's Park College

Gabriele Ciminelli

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)

Alexandre Judes

Indeed.com

Michael Koelle

University of Oxford

Cyrille Schwellnus

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)

Tara M. Sinclair

George Washington University - Department of Economics; George Washington University - Elliott School of International Affairs (ESIA); George Washington University - Institute For International Economic Policy (GWIIEP); George Washington University - Research Program on Forecasting; George Washington University - George Washington Institute of Public Policy (GWIPP); Australian National University (ANU) - Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA); Halle Institute for Economic Research

Date Written: March 18, 2022

Abstract

Remote work surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. To analyze its post-pandemic persistency, we construct an original dataset measuring remote and hybrid work (WFH) in 20 OECD countries and 55 occupations from January 2019 to December 2023, based on over 1 billion job postings from the global job site Indeed. The share of job postings advertising WFH more than quadrupled in the three years since January 2020 in the average country in our sample, increasing from about 2.5% to around 11%, and kept increasing also in 2023. Exploiting changes in pandemic severity across countries and differences in the feasibility of remote work across occupations in a difference-in-differences design, we find that increases in pandemic severity substantially raised advertised WFH, but pandemic easing had no effect. We then use job search data to document persistently high interest in WFH from jobseekers and conclude that the post-pandemic persistency of WFH may partly be a response by employers to demand for flexibility from workers.

Keywords: remote working, telework, COVID-19, mobility restrictions, stringency index

JEL Classification: D23, E24, J23, G18, M50

Suggested Citation

Adrjan, Pawel and Ciminelli, Gabriele and Judes, Alexandre and Koelle, Michael and Schwellnus, Cyrille and Sinclair, Tara M., Working from Home after COVID-19: Evidence from Job Postings in 20 Countries (March 18, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4064191 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4064191

Pawel Adrjan

Indeed.com ( email )

University of Oxford, Regent's Park College ( email )

Mansfield Road
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 4AU
United Kingdom

Gabriele Ciminelli (Contact Author)

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) ( email )

2 rue Andre Pascal
Paris Cedex 16, 75775
France

Alexandre Judes

Indeed.com ( email )

Michael Koelle

University of Oxford ( email )

Mansfield Road
Oxford, OX1 4AU
United Kingdom

Cyrille Schwellnus

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) ( email )

2 rue Andre Pascal
Paris Cedex 16, 75775
France

Tara M. Sinclair

George Washington University - Department of Economics ( email )

2115 G Street NW
Monroe Hall Suite 340
Washington, DC 20052
United States
202-944-7988 (Phone)
202-994-6147 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://home.gwu.edu/~tsinc/

George Washington University - Elliott School of International Affairs (ESIA) ( email )

2201 G Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20052
United States
202-994-7988 (Phone)
202-994-6147 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://home.gwu.edu/~tsinc/

George Washington University - Institute For International Economic Policy (GWIIEP) ( email )

1957 E Street, N.W.
Suite 502
Washington, DC 20052
United States

George Washington University - Research Program on Forecasting ( email )

1922 F Street, NW
Old Main, Suite 208
Washington, DC 20052
United States

George Washington University - George Washington Institute of Public Policy (GWIPP) ( email )


United States

Australian National University (ANU) - Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA) ( email )

ANU College of Business and Economics
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200
Australia

Halle Institute for Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 11 03 61
Kleine Maerkerstrasse 8
D-06017 Halle, 06108
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.dpe-halle.de/asp/person.asp?xtr&Lang=e

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