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”

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From the October 30th 2021 edition

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