Increasing Wave of Remote Work Positions

 

INCREASING WAVE OF REMOTE WORK POSITIONS

By Stuart Esrock, Ph.D.

The COVID-19 pandemic certainly created a huge increase in work-from-home, but most observers of the job market wondered whether that trend would sustain as the health crisis eased?  So far, the answer is a resounding, “yes!"

New analysis by LinkedIn shows a 450%+ increase in paid job postings that offer “remote work” when compared to the previous year. That finding is based on two million job listings of all types in the past year. The media/communications sector is at the top of the pack in offering remote positions, not surprisingly followed by software and IT services. Overall, nearly 10% of LinkedIn listings involve remote work, up 2% from the previous year.  The following table shows the industries that now have the highest concentration of remote, paid job listings on LinkedIn. 

Linkedin Remote Work 

The director of UofL’s University Career Center, Bill Fletcher, expects the trend of more virtual work to be a lasting outgrowth of the pandemic.  “As more people become accustomed to working effectively and efficiently online, and as companies realize some cost savings since they won’t have to pay for or maintain as much physical office space, or in some instances no space at all, we will see more virtual work.  This also opens the potential of more qualified candidates for organizations when they list openings, since geography is no longer a restriction.   While virtual doesn’t fit for some industries and organizations, there’s no question an increase in remote work is here to stay.” 

LinkedIn reports, however, that the trend is not uniform across all industries.  Remote work accounts for less than 5% of all job posts in sectors like consumer goods, manufacturing, design, and transportation/logistics, and less than 2% in the travel/recreation field.