Most experts concur that remote work is not going away. Most think that we will transition now to a hybrid environment that may be permanent. Yet, the numbers don’t seem to bear that out at least at this point in time.
Remote job postings reached a peak in April of just under 5% as a percentage of all job postings. Most of these postings (3.17%) are expressly identified as temporarily remote.
Since then temporarily remote postings have declined precipitously (see graph below) as COVID-19 lockdowns have eased.
On the other hand, permanently remote postings reached a low point in March and have not gone up or down. In fact, permanently remote postings have exceeded temporarily remote postings thus far in June.
Sometimes employers bury the remote status in the body of the job posting. Many times it is held out as a perk. However, at this point that is still a distinct minority of the cases.
We analyzed over 5 million detailed job postings using our Insight for Work application and found that less than 1% mention a remote work opportunity.
So where do we go from here? A few prominent employers principally in the tech sector have committed to permanent flex remote arrangements. However by and large it seems that employers are very hesitant to commit to anything long-term. Many are content to let this next phase of work environment play out.
