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Teleworkability and the COVID-19 crisis: potential and actual prevalence of remote work across Europe Cover

Teleworkability and the COVID-19 crisis: potential and actual prevalence of remote work across Europe

Open Access
|Dec 2023

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Values of technical teleworkability variables from ICP survey.Note: The figure shows the density distribution plot for the values of physical interaction variables across 798 different CP 5-digit occupations, divided by 1-digit occupation major groups. Wider sections of the density curves mean that more occupations are clustered around that value of the importance score. The dashed line represents the threshold used to classify the technical teleworkability of occupations.
Values of technical teleworkability variables from ICP survey.Note: The figure shows the density distribution plot for the values of physical interaction variables across 798 different CP 5-digit occupations, divided by 1-digit occupation major groups. Wider sections of the density curves mean that more occupations are clustered around that value of the importance score. The dashed line represents the threshold used to classify the technical teleworkability of occupations.

Figure 2

Relationship between technical teleworkability and social interaction index by 3-digit ISCO08Note: The four quadrants are generated as follows. A cut-off point of 40 on the physical teleworkability scale to differentiate between teleworkable and non-teleworkable occupations (ISCO 3d) – as in the construction of the original index itself. We then further differentiate teleworkable jobs based on the social interaction scale discussed in the previous section and use a cut-off to differentiate between occupations with limited (<50) or extensive (>=50) social interaction. More detailed information on values of the “technical teleworkability” and “social interaction” indeces by occupations are provided in Appendix B.Source: Authors’ calculations from ICP and EWS.
Relationship between technical teleworkability and social interaction index by 3-digit ISCO08Note: The four quadrants are generated as follows. A cut-off point of 40 on the physical teleworkability scale to differentiate between teleworkable and non-teleworkable occupations (ISCO 3d) – as in the construction of the original index itself. We then further differentiate teleworkable jobs based on the social interaction scale discussed in the previous section and use a cut-off to differentiate between occupations with limited (<50) or extensive (>=50) social interaction. More detailed information on values of the “technical teleworkability” and “social interaction” indeces by occupations are provided in Appendix B.Source: Authors’ calculations from ICP and EWS.

Figure 3

% of EU dependent employment by level of teleworkability and social interactionSource: Authors’ calculations from EU-LFS, EWCS, ICP.
% of EU dependent employment by level of teleworkability and social interactionSource: Authors’ calculations from EU-LFS, EWCS, ICP.

Figure 4

Relationship between technical teleworkability and prevalence of telework in 2018 by 2-digit ISCO08Note: Employees only. “Teleworkability” refers to share of employment in teleworkable occupations according to our operationalisation; ‘telework, 2019 (2020)’ refers to share of employment working from home usually or sometime according to EU-LFS 2019 (2020) microdata (EU27).Source: Authors’ calculations from ICP, EWS, and EU-LFS.
Relationship between technical teleworkability and prevalence of telework in 2018 by 2-digit ISCO08Note: Employees only. “Teleworkability” refers to share of employment in teleworkable occupations according to our operationalisation; ‘telework, 2019 (2020)’ refers to share of employment working from home usually or sometime according to EU-LFS 2019 (2020) microdata (EU27).Source: Authors’ calculations from ICP, EWS, and EU-LFS.

Figure 5

Teleworkability and actual teleworking among employees by broad occupation groupNote: Employees only. “Teleworkability” refers to share of employment in teleworkable occupations according to our operationalisation; ‘telework, 2019 (2020)’ refers to share of employment working from home usually or sometime according to EU-LFS 2019 (2020) microdata (EU27).Source: Authors’ calculations from ICP, EWS, and EU-LFS.
Teleworkability and actual teleworking among employees by broad occupation groupNote: Employees only. “Teleworkability” refers to share of employment in teleworkable occupations according to our operationalisation; ‘telework, 2019 (2020)’ refers to share of employment working from home usually or sometime according to EU-LFS 2019 (2020) microdata (EU27).Source: Authors’ calculations from ICP, EWS, and EU-LFS.

Figure 6

Share of teleworkable employment, by country, in EU27Note: Employees only. Changes in the survey methodology have led to a break in German data in 2020. Estimates for 2020 therefore cannot be compared directly with those of previous years. In addition, data collection during 2020 was impacted by technical issues and COVID-19 measures. The German data published is therefore preliminary and may be revised in the future. For more information, see here.Source: Authors’ calculations from ICP, EWS, and EU-LFS.
Share of teleworkable employment, by country, in EU27Note: Employees only. Changes in the survey methodology have led to a break in German data in 2020. Estimates for 2020 therefore cannot be compared directly with those of previous years. In addition, data collection during 2020 was impacted by technical issues and COVID-19 measures. The German data published is therefore preliminary and may be revised in the future. For more information, see here.Source: Authors’ calculations from ICP, EWS, and EU-LFS.

Figure 7

Week-by-week share of employee usually (sometimes) working from home in 2020 in the EU27Note: Employees only. Figures refer to the weighted data for EU27 countries combined.Source: Authors’ calculations from EU-LFS ad-hoc extractions provided by Eurostat.
Week-by-week share of employee usually (sometimes) working from home in 2020 in the EU27Note: Employees only. Figures refer to the weighted data for EU27 countries combined.Source: Authors’ calculations from EU-LFS ad-hoc extractions provided by Eurostat.

Figure A1

Distribution of physical interaction variable “Lifting or moving people” from EWCSNote: The figure shows the distribution of the values of Lifting or moving people for 129 different ISCO 3-digit occupations, divided by 1-digit occupation major groups. The dashed line represents the threshold used to classify the technical teleworkability of occupations.
Distribution of physical interaction variable “Lifting or moving people” from EWCSNote: The figure shows the distribution of the values of Lifting or moving people for 129 different ISCO 3-digit occupations, divided by 1-digit occupation major groups. The dashed line represents the threshold used to classify the technical teleworkability of occupations.

Technical teleworkability index and social interaction index by ISCO08 3-digit occupations

ISCO08 codeOccupation titleTechnical teleworkabilitySocial interaction
111Legislators and senior officials1.000.68
112Managing directors and chief executives1.000.69
121Business services and administration managers1.000.61
122Sales, marketing and development managers1.000.65
131Production managers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries0.000.62
132Manufacturing, mining, construction, and distribution managers0.180.62
133Information and communications technology service managers1.000.57
134Professional services managers1.000.67
141Hotel and restaurant managers0.970.63
142Retail and wholesale trade managers0.070.67
143Other services managers0.890.61
211Physical and earth science professionals0.230.45
212Mathematicians, actuaries and statisticians1.000.59
213Life science professionals0.260.54
214Engineering professionals (excluding electrotechnology)0.250.50
215Electrotechnology engineers0.000.51
216Architects, planners, surveyors and designers0.380.36
221Medical doctors0.390.79
222

Value duplicated from 322: Nursing and midwifery associate professionals, because the official CP-ISCO mapping does not distinguish between the two.

Nursing and Midwifery Professionals0.000.94
225Veterinarians0.000.64
226Other health professionals0.590.75
231University and higher education teachers0.490.80
232Vocational education teachers1.000.76
233Secondary education teachers1.000.77
234Primary school and early childhood teachers0.610.78
235Other teaching professionals0.860.74
241Finance professionals1.000.46
242Administration professionals0.970.57
243Sales, marketing and public relations professionals1.000.56
251Software and applications developers and analysts1.000.46
252Database and network professionals1.000.41
261Legal professionals1.000.43
262Librarians, archivists and curators1.000.51
263Social and religious professionals0.980.67
264Authors, journalists and linguists1.000.43
265Creative and performing artists0.340.54
311Physical and engineering science technicians0.010.45
312Mining, manufacturing and construction supervisors0.000.57
313Process control technicians0.020.38
314Life science technicians and related associate professionals0.630.35
315Ship and aircraft controllers and technicians0.090.60
321Medical and pharmaceutical technicians0.000.39
322Nursing and midwifery associate professionals0.000.94
324Veterinary technicians and assistants0.000.39
325Other health associate professionals0.350.66
331Financial and mathematical associate professionals1.000.41
332Sales and purchasing agents and brokers1.000.66
333Business services agents1.000.52
334Administrative and specialised secretaries1.000.53
335Regulatory government associate professionals0.530.57
341Legal, social and religious associate professionals1.000.74
342Sports and fitness workers0.040.67
343Artistic, cultural and culinary associate professionals0.110.48
351Information and communications technology operations and user support technicians0.930.43
352Telecommunications and broadcasting technicians0.000.32
411General office clerks1.000.39
412Secretaries (general)1.000.44
413Keyboard operators1.000.29
421Tellers, money collectors and related clerks0.930.50
422Client information workers1.000.48
431Numerical clerks1.000.26
432Material-recording and transport clerks0.400.42
441Other clerical support workers0.820.40
511Travel attendants, conductors and guides0.730.78
512Cooks0.000.48
513Waiters and bartenders0.000.56
514Hairdressers, beauticians and related workers0.000.58
515Building and housekeeping supervisors0.000.70
516Other personal services workers0.320.55
521Street and market salespersons0.000.84
522Shop salespersons0.040.80
523

Value for the main subgroup (CP 5.1.2.4.0) changed manually from teleworkable to non teleworkable.

Cashiers and ticket clerks0.100.51
524Other sales workers0.330.50
531

Value just below the threshold, moved from teleworkable to non teleworkable.

Child care workers and teachers’ aides0.000.75
532Personal care workers in health services0.000.54
541Protective services workers0.400.57
611Market gardeners and crop growers0.000.43
612Animal producers0.000.33
613Mixed crop and animal producers0.000.36
621Forestry and related workers0.000.46
622Fishery workers, hunters and trappers0.000.41
711Building frame and related trades workers0.000.27
712Building finishers and related trades workers0.000.38
713Painters, building structure cleaners and related trades workers0.000.31
721Sheet and structural metal workers, moulders and welders, and related workers0.000.38
722Blacksmiths, toolmakers and related trades workers0.000.32
723Machinery mechanics and repairers0.000.33
731Handicraft workers0.000.36
732Printing trades workers0.330.30
741Electrical equipment installers and repairers0.000.40
742Electronics and telecommunications installers and repairers0.000.42
751Food processing and related trades workers0.000.50
752Wood treaters, cabinet-makers and related trades workers0.000.37
753Garment and related trades workers0.000.36
754Other craft and related workers0.000.36
811Mining and mineral processing plant operators0.000.27
812Metal processing and finishing plant operators0.000.33
813Chemical and photographic products plant and machine operators0.000.30
814Rubber, plastic and paper products machine operators0.000.28
815Textile, fur and leather products machine operators0.250.31
816Food and related products machine operators0.000.33
817Wood processing and papermaking plant operators0.000.35
818Other stationary plant and machine operators0.000.29
821Assemblers0.000.26
831Locomotive engine drivers and related workers0.000.18
832Car, van and motorcycle drivers0.000.52
833Heavy truck and bus drivers0.000.18
834Mobile plant operators0.000.25
835Ships’ deck crews and related workers0.000.26
911Domestic, hotel and office cleaners and helpers0.000.32
912Vehicle, window, laundry and other hand cleaning workers0.000.45
921Agricultural, forestry and fishery labourers0.000.24
931Mining and construction labourers0.000.19
932Manufacturing labourers0.000.24
933Transport and storage labourers0.000.20
941Food preparation assistants0.000.26
951Street and related service workers0.000.43
952Street vendors (excluding food)0.000.71
961Refuse workers0.000.29
962Other elementary workers0.280.36

Variables selected for social interaction index

VariableScaleUnitSource
Selling or Influencing OthersImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Training and Teaching OthersImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Assisting and Caring for OthersImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Performing for or Working Directly with the PublicImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Coordinate the work and tasks of othersImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP

Variables selected for technical teleworkability index

VariableScale reportedUnitSource
Manual DexterityImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Finger DexterityImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Performing General Physical ActivitiesImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Handling and Moving ObjectsImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or MaterialImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or EquipmentImportance (0–100)CP 5 digitICP
Lifting or moving peopleFrequency (7-point scale)ISCO 3 digitEWCS
Language: English
Submitted on: Dec 2, 2022
Published on: Dec 17, 2023
Published by: Sciendo
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 times per year

© 2023 Matteo Sostero, Santo Milasi, John Hurley, Enrique Fernandez-Macias, Martina Bisello, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.