Is Working from Home Here to Stay? Evidence from Job Posting Data and the COVID-19 Shock

Abstract

We use proprietary data from a leading Chinese online job portal to examine firms' labor demand transition toward working from home (WFH) after the COVID-19 outbreak. We find that the increase in WFH job postings is persistent in the post-pandemic era and is more prominent among firms with less pre-COVID WFH hiring experience, consistent with the learning hypothesis. Within firms, the increase is larger in cities hit harder by the COVID-19 shock. Additionally, WFH transition is more pronounced among postings with higher wages and stricter requirements. Our findings suggest that WFH is here to stay, with long-term labor market implications.

Keywords: Work from home, labor market, job posting, COVID-19, pandemic, persistent impact, quasi-experiment

JEL Classification: J21, J23, J24, J31, I26, O33