Productivity of Working from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a Firm Survey

This study examines the prevalence, frequency, and productivity of the working from home (WFH) arrangement in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic using data from an original firm survey. The results reveal that about half of the firms that responded to the survey adopted the WFH arrangement. The mean WFH intensity, or the contribution of WFH to the total labor input, was approximately 23% among firms that adopted the WFH arrangement. The mean WFH productivity relative to working at the typical workplace was approximately 68%. However, large dispersions are observed in both WFH intensity and WFH productivity. The results obtained from the firm survey are generally consistent with the observations from the employee survey.

This is the English version of the Japanese Discussion Paper (20-J-041) with some additional information and changes.

Published: Morikawa, Masayuki, 2022. "Work-from-home productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Japan," Economic Inquiry, Volume60, Issue2 (2022), 508-527.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecin.13056