Socio-economic Factors and Telework Status in the US during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak posed a considerable risk to the health of people in the US and across the world. To reduce its spread, various companies in America adopted a range of preventive measures, such as telework, for the majority of their workforces. Considering that these measures have disproportionate effects on individuals, this study examined the potential relationship between socio-economic characteristics and telework status in the United States through mixed logit models developed in this research. Results indicated that telework status was significantly associated with the majority of the variables used in the models, namely, age, gender, educational status, marital status, difficulty with expenses, household size, work type, and anxiety.