Who gets to Work from Home? A suddenly relevant Indicator of Privilege and Inequality in Labour Market Outcomes
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented shock for labour markets. With some 80 percent of the world under some form of lockdown, working from home is now required. Piotr Lewandowski suggests in this article for
UNO-Wider that the incidence of
working from home is strongly related to countries’ technological advancement. But technology is not the only factor, as cultural, managerial, and regulatory factors also play roles. Higher levels of internet penetration usually mean a higher share of workers who can work from home, at least from time to time. Firms that lack infrastructure for data sharing and managing remote work, may struggle to catch up during the crisis and lose market share to more powerful firms. Concentration of profits and incomes will thus presumably increase as the world of work goes online.
https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/who-gets-work-home
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