Here, There, and Everywhere: Remote Work’s Impact on Employment in the UK

Ian Burn, Melissa Gentry and Joanna Lahey

No 35791, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Remote work is often touted as a way for disabled and older workers to remain in the labour market. Post-Covid, the incidence of remote work has increased in the UK. Following Bloom et al. (2026), we test the effects of remote work on employment for these two groups using the pandemic’s increase in work from home rates as a quasi-experiment. We compare occupations with high growth in work from home (WFH) to those with lower growth in work from home, with growth rates measured among the non-disabled or younger. We then instrument using pre-pandemic remote work scores from Dingle and Neiman (2020). We find significant evidence that rising WFH increases employment of disabled and older workers in the UK. We additionally find decreases in commute time and wages for both groups, but no effect on hours worked.

JEL-codes: J14 J22 J23 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma
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