Working from home is still more common among Australians after the COVID-19 pandemic, but less than it was two years ago, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “Prior to the pandemic, the percentage of employed people working from home regularly had been steadily increasing by around a percentage point every two years. It jumped by around eight percentage points between August 2019 and August 2021, from around 32 to 40 per cent, when the restrictions around the Delta variant were in effect across much of South-East Australia.”
“Our latest data, for August 2023, shows that 37 per cent of Australians work from home regularly. While this was down from around 40 per cent in 2021, it was still five percentage points above the pre-pandemic level, showing that many of the changes in behaviour and working arrangements have continued beyond the pandemic.”
Working from home continued to be more common in some occupations. Close to two-thirds (60 per cent) of managers and professionals were doing it regularly in August 2023, compared with around one in five (22 per cent) across other occupations.
“Interestingly, while the pandemic has seen a large shift in people working from home, there haven’t been similarly large changes in other arrangements like working flexible hours. Apart from working from home, most other arrangements have generally followed pre-pandemic trends,” Mr Jarvis said.
| Aug-15 (%) | Aug-17 (%) | Aug-19 (%) | Aug-21 (%) | Aug-23 (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usually worked extra hours or overtime | 35.6 | 34.9 | 34.1 | 33.9 | 31.4 |
| Usually required to be on call or standby | 23.9 | 23.9 | 22.0 | 22.5 | 19.0 |
| Usually worked shift work | 15.9 | 16.1 | 15.6 | 14.9 | 14.7 |
| Had an agreement to work flexible hours | 31.9 | 32.7 | 34.1 | 35.6 | 33.4 |
| Regularly worked from home in job or business | 29.9 | 30.9 | 32.1 | 40.3 | 36.9 |
| Monday to Friday only | 64.3 | 63.7 | 65.2 | 66.1 | 66.9 |
