Who can work from home?
To our knowledge, this study provides the first detailed estimates of the share of UK jobs that can be done from home by sector, occupation, industry, wage quintile and region.
Using UK Labour Force Survey data, it is estimated that 17.3 million UK workers are unable to work from home, equivalent to just over half (54%) of UK workers. This is lower for jobs in the public sector (50%) and higher amongst the self-employed (60%).
Only 1 in 4 workers in the bottom 20% of wage earners can carry out their work duties remotely, but 3 out of 4 workers in the top 20% can work from home.
There are large differences between UK countries and English regions. 60% of Londoners and a majority of workers in the South East can work from home, but in the North East and Northern Ireland fewer than 40% of workers can.
There is also very wide variation between occupations. The vast majority in finance and IT can work from home, but for many sectors (food and accommodation, agriculture, health and social work) working from home is impossible for the majority of workers.