Barron’s notes that work-from-home gigs are rapidly on the decline.
Of course, they spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic. During its height, 55% of workers stayed at home. After the lockdowns were lifted and people got back to physical work, it dropped to 27%.
Now, the labor market is responding. In October, 13% of jobs available were remote. But as the summer wares along, only 12% of jobs offered now have that option. Major companies like Amazon and Tesla, both of which see their stock down this week, issued edicts requiring their employees to return to the office.
While a 1% decline seems scant, it isn’t. A whole percentage point drop in eight months, with such a low percentage offering remote work, means it could very well reach zero by decade’s end. And when you look at the cities of industry, things look even worse for those wanting to phone it in. Boston went from 25.3% of remote work job vacancies to just 21.4% in the span of six months. Phoenix went from 21% to 15.3%. While nationally the decline is slow, most jobs can be found in large cities. The decline serves as a harbinger of things to come.
But if you want to stay at home, what careers should you look at? Those in the computer or tech spaces are seeing the biggest numbers in work-from-home opportunities, while legal, architectural and engineering gigs round out the top five. But if you’re working in healthcare, construction, education or sales, you’ll see work from home job openings drop the quickest.
Still, some major companies are continuing to offer work from home opportunities, making it a more permanent fixture. Lockheed Martin, the missile-manufacturing giant, has 50% of employees working remote. Honda allows 45% of their employees that same pleasure, while 25% of General Motors jobs are remote.
So if you’re aiming to spend more time with your dog, you better be selective about which industry you might want to jump into. Still, the general trend of simply valuing traditional office work less seems to be on the decline. The UK and Canada have began experimenting with the 4 day work week. So while offices might scream at their employees to come back to the office, they might just end up walking out, with a better, more relaxing opportunity in place.
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