The spatially uneven diffusion of remote jobs in Europe

The paper maps the spatially uneven diffusion of working from home across 30 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We summarise the determinants of remote working and show that its uptake was lower than in the US, and substantially uneven across/within countries, with most remote jobs concentrated in cities and capital regions. We then apply a variance decomposition procedure to investigate whether the uneven distribution of remote jobs can be attributed to individual or territorial factors. Results underscore the importance of composition effects as, compared to intermediate-density and rural areas, cities hosted more workers in occupations/sectors more amenable to working remotely. Overall, findings highlight how working from home is unlikely to substantially alter the current patterns of spatial inequality between core urban areas and peripheral rural regions.