Return dates get pushed to September or beyond, keeping firms and employees in 'moment of limbo'
https://www.wsj.com/articles/another-remote-work-year-looms-as-office-reopening-plans-are-delayed-11613039402
In Feb 2020, 5% of work hours in the US were done in the home. Today it is 40%
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/10/30/remote-first-work-is-taking-over-the-rich-world
QuoteIn a world of labour shortages, it takes a brave boss to make people take a sweaty commute five days a week (workers view being forced to be in the office full-time as equivalent to a 5% pay cut).
We're getting pretty good at these remote work gigs. ....We'll be hiring Ukrainians by next summer.
Maybe so. In some situations there is a penalty to being in different time zones, but in some there is an advantage. Those 40% of American jobs that can be done remotely are at risk. It simplifies some immigration questions though.
I remember 25 years ago arguing with a friend and saying that they best way to secure the US southern border was to promote higher wages and economic growth in Mexico. He insisted that it was zero sum and the more money they made in Mexico, the less we would make in the US (which is basically 17th/18th-century mercantilism, though as an engineer who did not read broadly, I'm sure he didn't know that).
One wonders what the wage equilibrium point is when the market for "screen workers" becomes globalized. I just invented that term right here and now. It seems to capture the bulk of workers whose jobs can be done remotely. If you spend your day sitting in front of a screen for a wage or a salary, expect your salary to be impacted by remote work whether you go remote or not.