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

Matteo Sostero; Santo Milasi; John Hurley; Enrique Fernandez-Macias; Martina Bisello

doi:10.2478/izajolp-2023-0006

Figures & Tables

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 code	Occupation title	Technical teleworkability	Social interaction
111	Legislators and senior officials	1.00	0.68
112	Managing directors and chief executives	1.00	0.69
121	Business services and administration managers	1.00	0.61
122	Sales, marketing and development managers	1.00	0.65
131	Production managers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries	0.00	0.62
132	Manufacturing, mining, construction, and distribution managers	0.18	0.62
133	Information and communications technology service managers	1.00	0.57
134	Professional services managers	1.00	0.67
141	Hotel and restaurant managers	0.97	0.63
142	Retail and wholesale trade managers	0.07	0.67
143	Other services managers	0.89	0.61
211	Physical and earth science professionals	0.23	0.45
212	Mathematicians, actuaries and statisticians	1.00	0.59
213	Life science professionals	0.26	0.54
214	Engineering professionals (excluding electrotechnology)	0.25	0.50
215	Electrotechnology engineers	0.00	0.51
216	Architects, planners, surveyors and designers	0.38	0.36
221	Medical doctors	0.39	0.79
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 Professionals	0.00	0.94
225	Veterinarians	0.00	0.64
226	Other health professionals	0.59	0.75
231	University and higher education teachers	0.49	0.80
232	Vocational education teachers	1.00	0.76
233	Secondary education teachers	1.00	0.77
234	Primary school and early childhood teachers	0.61	0.78
235	Other teaching professionals	0.86	0.74
241	Finance professionals	1.00	0.46
242	Administration professionals	0.97	0.57
243	Sales, marketing and public relations professionals	1.00	0.56
251	Software and applications developers and analysts	1.00	0.46
252	Database and network professionals	1.00	0.41
261	Legal professionals	1.00	0.43
262	Librarians, archivists and curators	1.00	0.51
263	Social and religious professionals	0.98	0.67
264	Authors, journalists and linguists	1.00	0.43
265	Creative and performing artists	0.34	0.54
311	Physical and engineering science technicians	0.01	0.45
312	Mining, manufacturing and construction supervisors	0.00	0.57
313	Process control technicians	0.02	0.38
314	Life science technicians and related associate professionals	0.63	0.35
315	Ship and aircraft controllers and technicians	0.09	0.60
321	Medical and pharmaceutical technicians	0.00	0.39
322	Nursing and midwifery associate professionals	0.00	0.94
324	Veterinary technicians and assistants	0.00	0.39
325	Other health associate professionals	0.35	0.66
331	Financial and mathematical associate professionals	1.00	0.41
332	Sales and purchasing agents and brokers	1.00	0.66
333	Business services agents	1.00	0.52
334	Administrative and specialised secretaries	1.00	0.53
335	Regulatory government associate professionals	0.53	0.57
341	Legal, social and religious associate professionals	1.00	0.74
342	Sports and fitness workers	0.04	0.67
343	Artistic, cultural and culinary associate professionals	0.11	0.48
351	Information and communications technology operations and user support technicians	0.93	0.43
352	Telecommunications and broadcasting technicians	0.00	0.32
411	General office clerks	1.00	0.39
412	Secretaries (general)	1.00	0.44
413	Keyboard operators	1.00	0.29
421	Tellers, money collectors and related clerks	0.93	0.50
422	Client information workers	1.00	0.48
431	Numerical clerks	1.00	0.26
432	Material-recording and transport clerks	0.40	0.42
441	Other clerical support workers	0.82	0.40
511	Travel attendants, conductors and guides	0.73	0.78
512	Cooks	0.00	0.48
513	Waiters and bartenders	0.00	0.56
514	Hairdressers, beauticians and related workers	0.00	0.58
515	Building and housekeeping supervisors	0.00	0.70
516	Other personal services workers	0.32	0.55
521	Street and market salespersons	0.00	0.84
522	Shop salespersons	0.04	0.80
523 Value for the main subgroup (CP 5.1.2.4.0) changed manually from teleworkable to non teleworkable.	Cashiers and ticket clerks	0.10	0.51
524	Other sales workers	0.33	0.50
531 Value just below the threshold, moved from teleworkable to non teleworkable.	Child care workers and teachers’ aides	0.00	0.75
532	Personal care workers in health services	0.00	0.54
541	Protective services workers	0.40	0.57
611	Market gardeners and crop growers	0.00	0.43
612	Animal producers	0.00	0.33
613	Mixed crop and animal producers	0.00	0.36
621	Forestry and related workers	0.00	0.46
622	Fishery workers, hunters and trappers	0.00	0.41
711	Building frame and related trades workers	0.00	0.27
712	Building finishers and related trades workers	0.00	0.38
713	Painters, building structure cleaners and related trades workers	0.00	0.31
721	Sheet and structural metal workers, moulders and welders, and related workers	0.00	0.38
722	Blacksmiths, toolmakers and related trades workers	0.00	0.32
723	Machinery mechanics and repairers	0.00	0.33
731	Handicraft workers	0.00	0.36
732	Printing trades workers	0.33	0.30
741	Electrical equipment installers and repairers	0.00	0.40
742	Electronics and telecommunications installers and repairers	0.00	0.42
751	Food processing and related trades workers	0.00	0.50
752	Wood treaters, cabinet-makers and related trades workers	0.00	0.37
753	Garment and related trades workers	0.00	0.36
754	Other craft and related workers	0.00	0.36
811	Mining and mineral processing plant operators	0.00	0.27
812	Metal processing and finishing plant operators	0.00	0.33
813	Chemical and photographic products plant and machine operators	0.00	0.30
814	Rubber, plastic and paper products machine operators	0.00	0.28
815	Textile, fur and leather products machine operators	0.25	0.31
816	Food and related products machine operators	0.00	0.33
817	Wood processing and papermaking plant operators	0.00	0.35
818	Other stationary plant and machine operators	0.00	0.29
821	Assemblers	0.00	0.26
831	Locomotive engine drivers and related workers	0.00	0.18
832	Car, van and motorcycle drivers	0.00	0.52
833	Heavy truck and bus drivers	0.00	0.18
834	Mobile plant operators	0.00	0.25
835	Ships’ deck crews and related workers	0.00	0.26
911	Domestic, hotel and office cleaners and helpers	0.00	0.32
912	Vehicle, window, laundry and other hand cleaning workers	0.00	0.45
921	Agricultural, forestry and fishery labourers	0.00	0.24
931	Mining and construction labourers	0.00	0.19
932	Manufacturing labourers	0.00	0.24
933	Transport and storage labourers	0.00	0.20
941	Food preparation assistants	0.00	0.26
951	Street and related service workers	0.00	0.43
952	Street vendors (excluding food)	0.00	0.71
961	Refuse workers	0.00	0.29
962	Other elementary workers	0.28	0.36

Variables selected for social interaction index

Variable	Scale	Unit	Source
Selling or Influencing Others	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Training and Teaching Others	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Assisting and Caring for Others	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Coordinate the work and tasks of others	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP

Variables selected for technical teleworkability index

Variable	Scale reported	Unit	Source
Manual Dexterity	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Finger Dexterity	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Performing General Physical Activities	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Handling and Moving Objects	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Material	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment	Importance (0–100)	CP 5 digit	ICP
Lifting or moving people	Frequency (7-point scale)	ISCO 3 digit	EWCS

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

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure A1

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

Variables selected for social interaction index

Variables selected for technical teleworkability index

Paradigm

My account