Remote jobs are highly in demand, but they are becoming less popular.
Nearly three decades after the pandemic which reshaped workplace norms, and put the power back in the hands employees, the tides have begun to shift again. The job market — although still hot — is slowing, and many Americans who had been working from home are being called back into the office.
It has resulted in a tug-of war between employers and employees about what they are willing to offer them. Signing bonuses are decreasing, wage increases are stagnant, and companies are not allowing employees to work from home as much as they used to.
Although companies have reduced telework jobs, the demand for remote work remains high. According to a report by the job site, 55% of all job applications on LinkedIn are for work from home positions. Only 15% of listings.
“It’s the ‘great remote work mismatch,’ ” said Rand Ghayad, head of economics and global labor markets at LinkedIn, who wrote the recent report. “In the past, labor mismatches have been about skills. Now we’re seeing a different kind of mismatch, where workers are looking for jobs that offer certain attributes — like the ability to work remotely — that employers aren’t willing to offer.”
For on-site jobs, there are approximately two job openings per applicant. However, for remote jobs, there is one active candidate for each job. According to Ghayad, this means that the gap between supply and demand for workers for on-site jobs is four times larger than for remote work.
Similar trends are being reported by other job sites. Indeed is one example. Remote-job postings have slowed over recent months, even for tech-heavy areas like programming. Monster.com also saw a 21 per cent increase in job seekers looking for work from home jobs between September and October. However, postings for remote positions declined by 6 percent.
One of the most obvious signs that there is a shift in the job market is the reduction of remote-work policies. In the hope of slowing down the economy enough that inflation can be controlled, Federal Reserve officials have been raising interest rates aggressively. The unemployment rate at 3.7% is still near historic lows. However, Fed officials stated they expected that it would rise to 4.4% in the next 12 months, which would result in more than 1,000,000 jobs being lost.
There are signs that it’s becoming harder to land a job. According to a November report, LinkedIn found that applicants are applying for 22 percent more jobs on LinkedIn than they did one year ago.
For the moment, remote work opportunities vary by industry. According to ZipRecruiter data, remote work opportunities in areas such as tourism, education, sports, and agriculture have dropped significantly since last years. This is because schools, gyms, etc., reopen. Remote-job listings in other areas like manufacturing, finance, and insurance have slowed down in recent months due to the shifts in economy that businesses and employees are experiencing.
However, ZipRecruiter’s chief economist Julia Pollak said that it would be difficult for employers to attain pre-pandemic office attendance levels, even if the want to.
“I do think it’s hard to put the genie back in the bottle on this one,” she said. “Once you hire a remote employee who lives elsewhere — as many companies have — it’s very hard to insist that people who live near the office come in all the time. In many industries, the kind of longer-term shifts to remote work, accompanied by investments in technology and disinvestments in commercial real estate, are still very much underway.”
The sudden and dramatic changes in the workplace caused by the coronavirus epidemic in 2020 saw millions of Americans work remotely. Many of them had never worked remotely before, and quickly discovered that telework provided greater flexibility and a better work/life balance. Roughly 18 percent of the workforce — or 28 million Americans — worked from home last year, compared with 6 percent before the pandemic, according to Census Bureau data.
Economists and labor experts agree that remote work offers new opportunities for those who were previously excluded from the job market. This includes working parents as well as people with disabilities or caregiving responsibilities.
Black, a Pennsylvania job hunter, decided to leave her position as an administrative assistant seven year ago in order to care for family members who were sick. After seeing her stepson do a job in computer engineering from home, it occurred to Black that she could also do that while caring for her sister-in law. With little success, she has tried to apply for customer service and administrative jobs.
“They keep saying there are all these jobs out there,” she said. “But if you want something you can do from home, there aren’t that many options.”
In recent weeks, a growing number of tech, banking and sales businesses have called their workers back to work. Elon Musk quickly ordered all Twitter employees report in-person to the office after he took over the social media platform in October. (He has since backtracked, saying “exceptional” employees can continue working remotely.)
U.S. Bancorp began this month asking corporate workers to come in on average three days a work week.
“Although performance is still strong, we’re seeing other things erode — like collaboration, engagement and how we demonstrate our culture as One U.S. Bank,” Chief Executive Andy Cecere wrote in a memo to employees. “Being in the office won’t solve this at once, but it can and will help.”
Traditional remote work opportunities were closed to low-wage workers. According to ZipRecruiter, women and minorities value remote work the most. However, they are more likely to work in areas such as teaching, nursing, and retail, where there are few opportunities.
Economists warn that low-wage workers who prefer to work at home may have fewer options and less chance of receiving pay increases or other perks than those working on-site.
Liveops, a Scottsdale-based firm that hires contractors to perform customer service jobs for national retailers, insurers, and health-care organizations, has seen a strong demand for hourly remote work. Chief Executive Greg Hanover said that applications from applicants who applied on their own rather than through an online ad have increased by 67 per cent over the past year.
“We’re seeing pretty significant growth,” he said. “People want to work on their own terms. They want flexibility.”
With remote jobs becoming less available, those who have them say they’re inclined to hold onto them. Ian Schrauth in St. Louis makes around 30 cents per call from home, working for a healthcare company. Shortly after losing his Sprint in-person sales job, he began working remotely as an independent contractor.
Schrauth hasn’t gotten a raise since he took the job nearly three years ago, but said he’s saving gas money by not having to commute.
“Now that I’ve started working remotely, it’s definitely what I prefer,” said Schrauth, 25, who also works part-time at a Walmart store. “If I want to work in pajamas, I can. If I have a doctor’s appointment, I can work around that. There’s a lot more flexibility.”