New work-from-home data shows discrepancies

As we adjust to new normals, there is no denying that COVID-19 has changed the way we work and do business. Data from the 2021 US Census Bureau survey shows that the number of people working from home tripled between 2019 and 2021, from about 6% to 18% of workers, or from about 9 million to 27.6 million people.

Among urban areas, the Bay Area had the highest percentage of remote workers, with about 35% of its workforce primarily working from home. The Census Bureau attributes this to the information and technology sectors, which make up the bulk of our workforce.

“Here at home, I feel like I can just get out of bed, take a shower, have a coffee and go straight to my desk instead of spending a lot of time commuting to work,” says Antonia DeMigil.

DeMichel works as a disability specialist at the University of the Bay Area and works from home three days a week.

Professor Stephen Davis, along with other researchers from Stanford, the University of Chicago, and the Autonomous Institute of Technology of Mexico, co-authored a monthly survey for the Survey of U.S. Work Relations and Attitudes.

Davis said that when they look at who is working from home, it rises sharply with earnings and education because the kinds of jobs that well-educated professionals, science and technology workers have, these jobs lend themselves to telecommuting much more than anyone else. who work in factories.

They also found that while women tend to be more willing to work remotely, men, especially whites, are more likely to provide this option. So it’s not surprising that 2021 census data shows that in San Francisco, of the 200,000 people working from home, more than half, 53% were white, 28% were Asian, 10% were Hispanic, and only 3% were black. .

Enrique López Lira, director of the low wage program at the UC Berkeley Job Center, said women and workers of color have been hit hardest by the pandemic because they are overrepresented in low wage industries where they had to work on-site and take risks their health during a pandemic.

The latest SWAA results showed that currently 13% of employees are still fully remote, 58% are working full-time on site, and 29% are working in a mixed fashion. Employers surveyed say they plan to keep their employees at home 2.3 days a week. average.

To achieve this, technologies that support collaboration at a distance play a decisive role. Davis said that Google and Zoom are investing heavily, and that the share of patent filings related to remote work “doubled” in just six months from January 2020 to July.

But Davis also acknowledged that there is a difference in the perception of how productive workers are when they are not in the office. Employees believe they are more productive when they work from home, but employers believe that their workers are not as productive when they work remotely.

Remote workers also save time and money by staying at home.

Davis said that this new way of working is largely good, with the exception of some problems for central cities. Their research shows that people who work from home naturally spend less of their money in central cities, hurting many ancillary businesses, driving down commercial property values, sales tax revenues, and public transportation revenues.

NBC Bay Area asked DeMichelle if she would ever consider working on location five days a week again? “Absolutely not… I know deep down in my heart that I will never work five days a week in an office again,” she confirmed.

As we adjust to new normals, there is no denying that COVID-19 has changed the way we work and do business. Raj Mathai talks to investigative journalist Hilda Gutierrez about this.