世界发展银行-Jobs_-Amenability-to-Working-from-Home-_-Evidence-from-Skills-Surveys-for-53-Countries_32页_1mb

Summary: Jobs' Amenability to Working from Home

Core Content

This paper, Jobs' Amenability to Working from Home: Evidence from Skills Surveys for 53 Countries, investigates how many jobs can be performed remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. It uses individual-level data from skills surveys in 53 countries to estimate the amenability of jobs to working from home (WFH), rather than relying solely on occupation-based classifications.

Main Findings

• Economic Development and WFH Amenability: Jobs in more economically developed countries are more amenable to working from home. This is because such countries tend to have less physically/manual-intensive jobs and more use of information and communication technologies (ICT), which facilitates remote work.

• Task Characteristics: The paper identifies four key task characteristics that determine WFH amenability:

  • Physical and Manual Tasks: Jobs requiring physical effort or manual labor are less amenable to WFH.
  • Face-to-Face (F2F) Intensity: Jobs that involve frequent interaction with others (e.g., supervision, public contact) are less amenable to WFH.
  • ICT Use at Work: Jobs that use ICT are more amenable to WFH.
  • ICT Access at Home: Internet access at home is a critical determinant of WFH amenability, as workers in developing countries may lack the same level of home connectivity as their counterparts in developed countries.

• Demographic and Employment Characteristics:

  • Women, college graduates, and salaried/formal workers are more likely to have jobs that are amenable to WFH.
  • Self-employed, informal workers, and those in hotels and restaurants, construction, agriculture, and commerce are less likely to have jobs that can be done remotely.

• Occupational Differences:

  • Sectors such as ICT, professional services, the public sector, and finance are more amenable to WFH.
  • Jobs in hotels and restaurants, agriculture, construction, and commerce are the least amenable to remote work.

• Impact of the Pandemic:

  • The paper warns that the crisis may exacerbate existing inequalities, particularly between and within countries, by disproportionately affecting those with less amenable jobs.
  • Social protection programs are emphasized as essential for safeguarding vulnerable workers, especially those in informal employment.

• Methodological Approach:

  • The study uses individual-level task data rather than occupation-level data, which allows for a more accurate estimation of WFH amenability.
  • It constructs indexes of task intensity and uses regression analysis to assess the relationship between these tasks and the likelihood of working from home.
  • The paper also highlights the importance of considering both work and home ICT access, as these factors significantly influence the ability to perform remote work.

• Limitations and Considerations:

  • The paper does not consider essential workers due to the complexity and variability of policies across countries.
  • It acknowledges that some surveys are outdated (collected around 2012), but assumes that relative ICT access has remained stable, making cross-country comparisons still valid.

Key Information

• Data Sources: The study uses three datasets:

  • PIAAC (35 countries, 2011–2017)
  • STEP (15 developing countries, 2012–2016)
  • LMPS (3 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, 2014–2018)

• Task Indexes:

  • Physical/Manual Intensity
  • F2F Intensity
  • Low ICT Use at Work
  • Low ICT Access at Home
  • WFH Index (combination of the above, multiplied by -1)
  • Adjusted WFH Index (includes home internet access)

• Cross-Country Comparison:

  • Turkey and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries are among the most vulnerable.
  • ECA (Eastern and Central Africa) countries have jobs more amenable to WFH.
  • United States has a lower WFH amenability index compared to other OECD countries, due to differences in task composition.

• Within-Country Analysis:

  • Women are more likely to have jobs amenable to WFH.
  • College graduates and formal workers are more likely to work from home.
  • Older workers (aged 25–34) are most likely to have jobs amenable to WFH, while those younger than 25 or older than 55 are less likely.
  • Self-employed and informal workers are more likely to have physically intensive jobs and less ICT access, thus less likely to work from home.

Conclusion

The paper concludes that ICT adoption and access are key drivers of WFH amenability. It emphasizes the need for targeted social protection programs and investment in digital infrastructure to support workers who are less likely to work remotely. The findings also highlight the importance of using individual-level data to better understand and address the disparities in remote work potential across different demographics and sectors.