Telecommuting is reshaping the California job market

The fastest and most widespread change ever to how and where work is done was brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before 2020, workers across the economy spent about 5% of their workdays at home – that rate rose to 60% when COVID hit. Today, American workers spend about 27% of their workdays at home, a shift that has reshaped travel, offices, business areas, workplace interactions, and how workers allocate their time. The impacts are still emerging, as are the negotiations between workers and employers over whether the current state of remote work supports productivity.

Hybrid work is the most common telecommuting arrangement: working some days in the field and other days at home. Over 25% of American workers report hybrid jobs; only 12% work remotely all the time. In California, working from home is more common than in the rest of the country. Surveyed in a random week during 2022, 17% of California workers (3.2 million) said they would “usually” work from home in the past week compared to 15% of other American workers.

According to the PPIC Statewide survey, 6 in 10 employed Californians would like to work from home at least some of the time. While there is conflicting evidence about how remote work affects productivity and whether some workers need proximity to colleagues to thrive, Californians find flexible work appealing. This flexibility may be desirable to workers and may improve labor force participation. For example, initial evidence suggests that telecommuting may have improved employment among women in recent years. Furthermore, telecommuting is a valuable option for workers with disabilities, although the recent shift to telecommuting does not appear to be widespread among this group.

In fact, occupations with more flexibility to work remotely have seen strong employment growth. While overall employment fell 2% between 2018–19 and 2021–22, employment in occupations where at least half of workers report working from home rose 12%. The biggest growth includes software developers, mathematical science professions, management analysts and hardware engineers. However, the occupations most likely to telecommute are writers and editors (3 of the top 10 telecommuting occupations), although this field is not growing very fast in California.

At the other end of the spectrum, employment has declined in California’s fields, where few telecommute. Employment fell almost 7% in occupations where less than 5% of workers are remote, with the largest declines in work that supports buildings (security guards, janitors), food services (cooks and food prep workers) and food workers. agriculture. The shift to remote work itself may be driving some of this decline—quiet use of office space reduces demand for jobs that support building operations and reduces demand for food services in and around central business districts.

Similarly, the pandemic’s effect on how consumers shop — much more online than in-person retail — has created divergent trends in employment. Although work is not far away, the movement of goods and materials, as well as the transport and receipt of goods, have seen significant growth. On the other hand, retail sales clerks and management (also mostly face-to-face) have seen some of the biggest declines.

Although remote and hybrid work arrangements are five times more common today than before the pandemic, the majority of employed Californians work outside the home. As we navigate this new landscape, it is essential to consider the long-term implications and develop policies that support workers and businesses alike.