Zhang Dandan: Teleworking to Accelerate

Sep 16-2021   

A working paper by Zhang Dandan, Associate Professor of the NSD, and two co-authors concludes that remote working is likely to speed up in the future due to the lingering pandemic and technological advances.

The research relies on the data that tracked the job types of over 6,000 Chinese workers in 2020 and matches it to that by Dingel and Neiman (2020) based on U.S. labor data. Subsequently, a Teleworkability Index is built for every individual worker in line with their job attributes. Prof. Zhang and her team then analyze the cushioning effects of distant working on employment, the heterogeneity for different groups, as well as future trends.

Business employees enjoy the highest possibility of teleworking, significantly superior to that of laborers in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation. Industry-wise, over 90% of workers in education and info-tech can possibly shift to teleworking, while those in construction, manufacturing, and hospitality are highly unlikely to do so. Further categorizations show that women have certain advantages over men in teleworking, those with higher education are much more likely to work from home than poorly educated ones, and Teleworkability Index is positively correlated with income level.

Those with high Teleworkability Index enjoy a variety of benefits, such as a higher degree of job security, earlier resumption of work, and better protection of salary. In addition, they tend to maintain a higher level of psychological health.

By tracking the job changes of 615 people in 2019 to 2020, the researchers find a preference towards jobs with higher Teleworkability Index, a trend that is expected to accelerate.

The researchers recommend that policies be made to assist industries with their digitalization and help workers to overcome the ‘digital gap’; in addition, more assistance should be provided to laborers in basic manufacturing and low-end service to ensure their livelihood and reduce social inequality.