Research / White PaperJun 19, 2020

How Many Jobs Can be Done at Home?

Evaluating the economic impact of “social distancing” measures taken to arrest the spread of COVID-19 raises a fundamental question about the modern economy: how many jobs can be performed at home? We classify the feasibility of working at home for all occupations and merge this classification with occupational employment counts. We find that 37 percent of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home, with significant variation across cities and industries. These jobs typically pay more than jobs that cannot be done at home and account for 46 percent of all US wages. Applying our occupational classification to 85 other countries reveals that lower-income economies have a lower share of jobs that can be done at home.

More Research From These Scholars

BFI Working Paper Dec 1, 2018

Spatial Correlation, Trade, and Inequality: Evidence from the Global Climate

Jonathan Dingel, Solomon Hsiang, Kyle C. Meng
Topics:  Uncategorized
BFI Working Paper Mar 17, 2023

Market Size and Trade in Medical Services

Jonathan Dingel, Joshua Gottlieb, Maya Lozinski, Pauline Mourot
Topics:  Health care
BFI Working Paper Dec 17, 2019

Exchange Rate Reconnect

Andrew Lilly, Matteo Maggiori, Brent Neiman, Jesse Schreger
Topics:  Financial Markets