Remote Work in the Bay Area - An Initial Evaluation of the Data and Implications for Public Policy

Remote Work in the Bay Area An Initial Evaluation of the Data and Implications for Public Policy December 2020 About this Report In light of the drastic shift to remote work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this report provides a foundational analysis of remote work eligibility in the Bay Area. [...] For example, on September 2, 1979, in response to the oil shortage This analysis finds that up to 45 percent of the of the 1970s, The Washington Post published an op- jobs in the Bay Area are eligible to work remotely, ed with the headline “Working at Home Can Save equating to a total of 1.79 million remote eligible Gasoline.” More than 40 years later, with remote work jobs in the region. [...] 5 Remote Work in the Bay Area Disruption to the service Transit revenue impact sector Among remote eligible workers in the Bay Area, 265,000 (or 15 percent of all remote eligible workers) Of the 55% of workers in the Bay Area who hold take transit to work, while 1.1 million workers (or 62 occupations that are not eligible for remote work, many percent) drive alone. [...] Many of the impacts of remote work are still unknown and difficult to quantify, but this period of extended remote work does provide a lens into potential 7 Remote Work in the Bay Area The Current State of Remote Opinions on how remote work should be approached in the long-term also differ across the business community. [...] This difference in the concentration of eligible jobs by establishment size shows 16 Remote Work in the Bay Area Remote eligible jobs by The region’s commercial districts also vary in terms of the business sizes most likely to have remote eligible establishment size and occupations.