JOB SITE: REMOTE WORK LISTINGS MORE THAN DOUBLED IN YEAR

U. S. job listings that tout working remotely as a perk have more than doubled in the past year, signaling top companies will keep using the benefit to woo employees even as the pandemic winds down, according to job- search site Indeed.

Pandemic drives remote work growth

As of February, 6.9% of Indeed job postings cited remote work as an option, compared with 2.9% in January 2020. The term was increasingly used for jobs in higher- paying industries such as technology, finance and law. Fewer than 10% of people with a high school degree worked from home in February, while 49% of graduate- degree holders did.

Many workers now returning to offices, though

The proportion of people working from home has sunk as declining infection rates, vaccines and better corporate cleaning and safety policies encouraged employees to head back to the office.

About one- quarter of U. S. employees were working from home in February, down from more than one- third in May 2020, according to data from the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics cited by Indeed.

Who’s working from home?

The question of who can work remotely has underscored the outsized impact COVID- 19 has had on American minority communities, where death rates have consistently been higher. Many people of color are employed in industries where working from home hasn’t been an option; for example, EEOC data show Black and Hispanic populations have tended to be overrepresented in industries like food service and nursinghome care.

Job postings in sectors that require in- person work — including manufacturing, driving and retail — have also increased, as many of these industries support the stay- athome economy, according to Indeed.