Working from Home after COVID-19: Evidence from Job Postings in 20 Countries

We study the adoption of telework during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We assemble a novel high-frequency database of job postings advertising work from home (telework) covering 20 countries and 55 occupational categories from January 2019 to September 2022, using data from the online job site Indeed. Exploiting changes in pandemic severity across countries and differences in the feasibility of telework across occupations in a triple differences identification strategy, we find that (i) increases in pandemic severity substantially raise advertised telework but (ii) declines have no effect on advertised telework. Even though technologies that enable effective telework – such as rapid broadband internet, file sharing via the cloud and video calls – had been available for many years, the pandemic may have triggered path dependence in its adoption. Public policies will need to adapt to make the most of permanently higher telework in terms of productivity and worker well-being.