EU Registers Increase in Population Working From Home

During the Coronavirus crisis, a large share of employed people encountered changing work patterns, including working from home.

Only around one in 20 (5.5 per cent) employed people aged 20-64 in the EU worked from home in 2019. However, this number soon increased after the majority of employed people were asked to work from home when the number of COVID infection cases started to increase dramatically.

According to Eurostat, as soon as the EU countries introduced COVID measures, the share of employed people working from home more than doubled in 2020 (12.3 per cent) and continued to increase in 2021 (13.5 per cent), but to a lesser extent, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

“The impact of the COVID-19 crisis was apparent as this share [the share of employed people in the EU working from home] more than doubled in 2020 to 12.3 per cent (+6.8 percentage points; pp). To a lesser extent, there was a further increase in the share of people usually working from home in 2021, as it reached 13.5 per cent (+1.2 pp),” the statement of Eurostat reads.

Regarding the regional distribution of working from home in 2021, Eurostat explains that it was somewhat uneven. Data show that Stockholm has the highest share of people working from home in 2021.

According to Eurostat, two out of every five employed people in Stockholm (40.5 per cent) were usually working from home in 2021.

The list of regions with the highest shares of people working from home in 2021 also includes Eastern and Midland in Ireland and Helsinki-Uusimaa in Finland. Around 39.3 per cent of employed people worked from home in 2021 in Eastern and Midland in Ireland, and around 37.0 per cent of them worked from home in Helsinki-Uusimaa in Finland.

“In Eastern and Midland in Ireland and in Stockholm in Sweden, the increases were +33.1 pp and +32.8 pp, respectively. In other words, when comparing the pre-pandemic situation in 2019 with the situation in 2021, the share of employed people usually working from home increased in these two capital regions by an amount that was more than four times as high as the increase for the EU average,” Eurostat added.