Finance & economics | Free exchange

Remote-first work is taking over the rich world

A growing body of research hints at why

IN FEBRUARY 2020 Americans on average spent 5% of their working hours at home. By May, as lockdowns spread, the share had soared to 60%—a trend that was mirrored in other countries. Many people, perhaps believing that working from home really meant shirking from home, assumed that office life would soon return to something like its pre-pandemic norm. To say it has not turned out that way would be a huge understatement.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The pyjama revolution”

COP-out

From the October 30th 2021 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Finance & economics

A ping pong game with a container instead of a ball.

Do tariffs raise inflation?

Usually. But the bigger problem is that they harm economic growth and innovation

A Gulfstream G600 from Hampshire Aviation Company lands at Barcelona Airport in Barcelona, Spain.

European governments struggle to stop rich people from fleeing

Exit taxes are popular, and counter-productive


Eagle claws, getting ready to collect bonds from a top hat.

Saba Capital wages war on underperforming British investment trusts

How many will end up in Boaz Weinstein’s sights?


Has Japan truly escaped low inflation?

Its central bankers are increasingly hopeful

How American bankers dodged the MAGA carnage

The masters of the universe have escaped an anti-globalist revolt