How revolutionary is going remote? An occupational and place-based analysis

Patrick Adler and Richard Florida

Chapter 21 in Handbook of Labour Mobility, 2026, pp 357-380 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The onset of work-from-home (WFH) arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic led many to speculate that a new, enduring economic geography was emerging. This chapter evaluates that claim using geocoded data on remote job postings and noncommuters, alongside detailed occupational and county-level characteristics. Two key findings emerge. First, while remote work expanded across nearly all US regions during the pandemic, it became markedly more uneven in the ‘back-to-work’ period: postings rose in 89% of metros from 2019 to 2022 but only in 30% from 2022 to 2024. Second, rather than creating a new geography, remote work has sharply amplified spatial divides between creative, high-skill regions and those tied to more traditional sectors. At the occupational level, remote work consistently correlates with analytical and some social skills, and negatively with physical or blue-collar tasks. We interpret this as evidence that there is a place-based dimension to going remote.

Keywords: Remote Work; Economic Geography; Metacity; Human Capital; Creative Class (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035331680
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