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Why Does Working from Home Vary Across Countries and People?

Author

Listed:
  • Zarate, Pablo
  • Dolls, Mathias
  • Davis, Steven
  • Bloom, Nicholas
  • Barrero, Jose Maria
  • Aksoy, Cevat Giray

Abstract

We use two surveys to assess why work from home (WFH) varies so much across countries and people. A measure of cultural individualism accounts for about one-third of the cross-country variation in WFH rates. Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US score highly on individualism and WFH rates, whereas Asian countries score low on both. Other factors such as cumulative lockdown stringency, population density, industry mix, and GDP per capita also matter, but they account for less of the variation. When looking across individual workers in the United States, we find that industry mix, population density and lockdown severity help account for current WFH rates, as does the partisan leaning of the county in which the worker resides. We conclude that multiple factors influence WFH rates, and technological feasibility is only one of them.

Suggested Citation

  • Zarate, Pablo & Dolls, Mathias & Davis, Steven & Bloom, Nicholas & Barrero, Jose Maria & Aksoy, Cevat Giray, 2024. "Why Does Working from Home Vary Across Countries and People?," CEPR Discussion Papers 19003, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:19003
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. L.G. Deidda & F. Cerina & S. Nobili, 2025. "Skill-biased remote work and incentives," Working Paper CRENoS 202505, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    3. Robert Metcalfe & Sefi Roth, 2025. "Making the Invisible Visible: The Impact of Revealing Indoor Air Pollution on Behavior and Welfare," Framed Field Experiments 00819, The Field Experiments Website.
    4. Laura Ketter & Todd Morris & Lizi Yu, 2025. "A new equilibrium: COVID-19 lockdowns and WFH persistence," Papers 2506.16671, arXiv.org.
    5. Ketter, Laura & Morris, Todd & Yu, Lizi, 2025. "A New Equilibrium: COVID-19 Lockdowns and WFH Persistence," IZA Discussion Papers 17975, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. José Maria Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Kathryn Bonney & Cory Breaux & Catherine Buffington & Steven J. Davis & Lucia Foster & Brian McKenzie & Keith Savage & Cristina Tello-Trillo, 2025. "Tapping Business and Household Surveys to Sharpen Our View of Work from Home," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Nature of Work, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Metcalfe, Robert & Roth, Sefi, 2025. "Making the invisible visible: the impact of revealing indoor air pollution on behavior and welfare," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 128514, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Adrjan, Pawel & Ciminelli, Gabriele & Judes, Alexandre & Koelle, Michael & Schwellnus, Cyrille & Sinclair, Tara M., 2025. "Working from home after COVID-19: Evidence from job postings in 20 countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    9. Burdin, Gabriel & Landini, Fabio, 2025. "Beliefs and the Demand for Employee Ownership," IZA Discussion Papers 18196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

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