Working From Home: Impacts on Residential Mobility and Spatial Inequality
The propensity of individuals to work from home (WFH) all or some of the time (known as remote and hybrid working respectively) has proliferated since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. The growth of WFH has been particularly pronounced amongst high skilled workers.
The types of places that were doing relatively well pre-pandemic have continued to do so post-pandemic in terms of their ability to attract and retain human capital. The residential mobility of high skilled human capital has not been drastically changed by the rise in work from home and hybrid working, so the potential for transforming spatial inequalities is limited
The rise of WFH, in effectively decoupling the geography of home and work, in theory presents opportunities for addressing regional inequalities. This report examines the relationship between WFH and residential mobility amongst skilled workers and consider its implications for spatial inequalities. The analysis draws on the UK Household Longitudinal Study and a three-city case study approach – focusing on Glasgow, Sheffield - to assess how the rise of WFH has influenced residential mobilities and the distribution of human capital in the UK.