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The Impact of COVID-19 on Workers' Expectations and Preferences for Remote Work

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  • Yuting Chen
  • Patricia Cortes
  • Gizem Kosar
  • Jessica Pan
  • Basit Zafar

Abstract

We study how COVID-19 affected the prevalence, expectations, and attitudes toward remote work using specially designed surveys. The incidence of remote work remains higher than prepandemic levels, and both men and women expect this to persist postpandemic. Workers also report increased preference for remote work as a result of the pandemic. These changes are strongly correlated with individuals' exposure to the pandemic-induced work-from-home shock, indicating that experience with remote work during the pandemic likely shaped expectations and preferences toward WFH. The magnitude of the effects on preferences and expectations are similar across gender, marital status, and presence of children.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuting Chen & Patricia Cortes & Gizem Kosar & Jessica Pan & Basit Zafar, 2023. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Workers' Expectations and Preferences for Remote Work," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 113, pages 556-561, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:113:y:2023:p:556-61
    DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20231090
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barrero, Jose Maria & Bloom, Nick & Davis, Steven J., 2020. "Why Working From Home Will Stick," SocArXiv wfdbe, Center for Open Science.
    2. Cevat Giray Aksoy & Jose Maria Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis & Mathias Dolls & Pablo Zarate, 2022. "Working from Home Around the World," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 53(2 (Fall)), pages 281-360.
    3. Matthew Wiswall & Basit Zafar, 2018. "Preference for the Workplace, Investment in Human Capital, and Gender," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(1), pages 457-507.
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    Cited by:

    1. Afridi, Farzana & Basistha, Ahana & Dhillon, Amrita & Serra, Danila, 2023. "Can Crises Affect Citizen Activism? Evidence from a Pandemic," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 693, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. Benjamin Cowan, 2024. "Time use, college attainment, and the working-from-home revolution," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(3), pages 1-27, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

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