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Who can work and study from home in Pakistan: Evidence from a 2018–19 nationwide household survey

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  • Hasan, Syed M.
  • Rehman, Attique
  • Zhang, Wendong

Abstract

In this article, we examine the feasibility of working and studying from home in Pakistan. We take advantage of the recently released 2018–19 Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey. PSLM is a nationally representative household survey with extensive information on employment outcomes, children’s educational attainment, as well as internet and computer access and prior usage information. Modifying Dingel and Neiman [2020]’s approach, we define the feasibility of jobs that can be done from home based on the percentage of tasks that can be switched online and accounting for internet accessibility. We also investigate the possibilities for students to study from home via TV or internet. We find that only 10% of jobs in Pakistan can be done from home; however, megacities have much higher rates and rural areas have lower rates. In addition, many of Pakistan’s male workers are in low-skill, low-paying service industries and cannot work from home, while occupations with a higher female employment share have a relatively higher work-from-home share de-spite lower percentage of prior internet use. Our results also highlight the homeschooling challenges Pakistan’s students face given the low rates of television and internet access. The government’s outreach effort through the new Teleschool TV channel could help alleviate pre-existing gender inequalities in access to education.

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  • Hasan, Syed M. & Rehman, Attique & Zhang, Wendong, 2021. "Who can work and study from home in Pakistan: Evidence from a 2018–19 nationwide household survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:138:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x20303247
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105197
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    1. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Redmond, Paul & McGuinness, Seamus, 2020. "Who can work from home in Ireland?," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number SUSTAT87, June.
    3. Asif Ali & Muhammad Khan & Amir Ishaq & Arif Hussain & Shams Ur Rehman & Imran Ali Khan & Syed Fahad Ali Shah, 2020. "Pakistan Textiles can Bounce Back Vigorously," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 10(2), pages 30-40.
    4. Charles Gottlieb & Jan Grobovsek & Markus Poschke, 2020. "Working from Home across Countries," Cahiers de recherche 07-2020, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    5. Siddharth Sharma, 2019. "Pakistan at 100," World Bank Publications - Reports 31410, The World Bank Group.
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    8. Guilherme Lichand & Carlos Alberto Doria & Onicio Leal-Neto & João Paulo Cossi Fernandes, 2022. "The impacts of remote learning in secondary education during the pandemic in Brazil," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(8), pages 1079-1086, August.

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