Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Figure 1. Demand for Remote Work Has Soared

This is a line chart titled “Demand for Remote Work Has Soared.” The x axis ranges from January 2019 to September 2024 in months. The Y axis ranges from 2 to 11 percent. The data are monthly. There is one variable charted on the plot, the three-month moving average of the percent of new vacancy postings that allow one or more remote workday per week. It is designated by a blue line with circle markers and ranges from 2.8 percent in August 2019 to 10.7 in November 2022. This variable sharply increased in the wake of the pandemic and is currently about three times above the levels in 2019.

Return to text

Figure 2. Remote Work Utilization

This is a line chart titled “Remote Work Utilization.” The x axis ranges from November 2022 to August 2024 in months. The Y axis ranges from 15 to 50 percent. The data are available at three-month intervals. There is one variable charted on the plot, remote utilization—that is, the share of workers reporting to have worked remotely relative to those with the ability to do so. It is designated by red line with diamond markers. The chart also shows the level of remote utilization as of February 2020 with a black dashed line. Remote utilization has more than doubled relative to the pre-pandemic period, reaching almost 45 percent in February 2024 compared with 20 in February 2020.

Return to text

Figure 3. Remote Work Utilization: Changes in Distributions between 2020 and 2024

This is a line chart titled “Remote Work Utilization: Changes in Distributions between 2020 and 2024” with the three panels. The x axis ranges from 0 to 100 in percent in the three panels panel. In the first panel, the Y axis ranges from 0 to 0.09. In the second panel, the Y axis ranges from 0 to 0.05. In the third panel, the Y axis ranges from 0 to 0.04. The data are density distributions. There are three variables charted on each panel. The first variable shows the density distribution of remote utilization rates in February 2020, and it is designated by a thin green line. The second variable shows the density distribution of remote utilization rates in February 2023, and it is designated by a medium-thick red line. The third variable shows the density distribution of remote utilization rates in February 2024, and it is designated by a thick blue line. The first panel shows the distribution across states, the second panel shows the distribution across three-digit NAICS industries, and the third panel shows the distribution across three-digit SOC occupations. The density distributions showed a relatively small dispersion in 2020; the dispersion significantly increased in 2023 and even further in 2024, despite the fact that the median rates did not change substantially over that period.

Return to text