Internet diffusion, remote work opportunities, and the careers of men and women
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Economics
Abstract
"Atypical" work arrangements have become widespread in most countries, including - among other categories - flexible work schedules, compressed workweeks, job sharing and working from home. The number of people working from home in the UK has risen from 2.9 million in 1998 to 4.2 million in 2014, corresponding to 14% of those in employment, and an additional 1.8 million people report they would prefer to work for home if they were given the chance. In 2018 the UK Government launched the Flexible Working Task Force with the aim to encourage the availability and uptake of flexible working, while improving the quality of working lives.
Internet technology has been one key enabler of remote working, allowing employees to perform several tasks remotely from their workplaces, while remaining connected to their coworkers and managers. While atypical work arrangements are often chosen by individuals who especially value their inherent flexibility, and most notably women with family constraints, one likely downside is their associated earnings instability and reduced prospects of promotion.
In this research we propose to investigate how the availability of broadband internet has shaped remote working in Britain, with consequences on working arrangements, career progression, the range of jobs considered and ultimately the geography of job-worker matches. We will document the anatomy of working from home and study its role in shaping the careers of affected workers, with an emphasis on its consequences for the gender gaps in pay and labour market trajectories. To this purpose we will combine secondary data from several administrative and survey sources to uncover patterns of internet penetration and labour market outcomes across the universe of British postcodes (around 1.5 million).
Our first objective will be to the growth in remote work to the rollout of broadband internet since the late 1990s. In doing this, we will combine very localized variation in broadband signal quality with information on the telephone network technological upgrades in order to predict opportunities of working remotely at the very local level. Alongside, we propose to investigate distributional consequences of this technological change across individuals with different characteristics (gender, age, skills, experience, family composition, etc.) and across tasks that are differentially permeable to remote work.
Our second objective consists in exploring the consequences of remote work on the careers of affected workers. One key channel of impact relates to the role of remote work and the associated work flexibility in work-life balance considerations. As women remain to date the main providers of childcare and domestic work in general, they tend to value flexible work schedules and shorter commutes more than men, and professions that introduced greater flexibility in their organization have achieved greater reductions in their earnings gap than professions that disproportionately reward long and inflexible hours. However, recent work has shown evidence of persistent earnings gaps even in areas of the `gig' economy characterized by completely flexible work schedules. Evidence also shows that men typically have longer work commutes than women, and that the 'gender commuting gap' widens markedly around the birth of the first child. The gender commuting gap is potentially linked to the gender gap in earnings (which also widens upon child birth), as women are induced by family responsibilities to search for jobs closer to home may be willing to trade off higher wages for the possibility of a shorter commute and forgo opportunities of career development further afield. Against this backdrop, we explore the importance of working from home for women's careers, and in particular their labour market attachment, occupational choices and career progression.
Internet technology has been one key enabler of remote working, allowing employees to perform several tasks remotely from their workplaces, while remaining connected to their coworkers and managers. While atypical work arrangements are often chosen by individuals who especially value their inherent flexibility, and most notably women with family constraints, one likely downside is their associated earnings instability and reduced prospects of promotion.
In this research we propose to investigate how the availability of broadband internet has shaped remote working in Britain, with consequences on working arrangements, career progression, the range of jobs considered and ultimately the geography of job-worker matches. We will document the anatomy of working from home and study its role in shaping the careers of affected workers, with an emphasis on its consequences for the gender gaps in pay and labour market trajectories. To this purpose we will combine secondary data from several administrative and survey sources to uncover patterns of internet penetration and labour market outcomes across the universe of British postcodes (around 1.5 million).
Our first objective will be to the growth in remote work to the rollout of broadband internet since the late 1990s. In doing this, we will combine very localized variation in broadband signal quality with information on the telephone network technological upgrades in order to predict opportunities of working remotely at the very local level. Alongside, we propose to investigate distributional consequences of this technological change across individuals with different characteristics (gender, age, skills, experience, family composition, etc.) and across tasks that are differentially permeable to remote work.
Our second objective consists in exploring the consequences of remote work on the careers of affected workers. One key channel of impact relates to the role of remote work and the associated work flexibility in work-life balance considerations. As women remain to date the main providers of childcare and domestic work in general, they tend to value flexible work schedules and shorter commutes more than men, and professions that introduced greater flexibility in their organization have achieved greater reductions in their earnings gap than professions that disproportionately reward long and inflexible hours. However, recent work has shown evidence of persistent earnings gaps even in areas of the `gig' economy characterized by completely flexible work schedules. Evidence also shows that men typically have longer work commutes than women, and that the 'gender commuting gap' widens markedly around the birth of the first child. The gender commuting gap is potentially linked to the gender gap in earnings (which also widens upon child birth), as women are induced by family responsibilities to search for jobs closer to home may be willing to trade off higher wages for the possibility of a shorter commute and forgo opportunities of career development further afield. Against this backdrop, we explore the importance of working from home for women's careers, and in particular their labour market attachment, occupational choices and career progression.
Planned Impact
Our research aims at providing a deeper understanding of the consequences of major transformations in the labour market induced by technological advancements on careers, work life balance considerations and female labour supply in particular.
We plan to achieve impact by focusing on some of the benefits to workers of such transformations, while also highlighting potential costs to individuals and society. These include increased job insecurity, lack of representation and formidable challenges to social protection and social security. The public and policy debates in the areas of future of work, innovation and the consequences for workers often travel on parallel paths and there is still a limited understanding of the design appropriate policies in the face of such trade-offs. With this in mind we plan to maximize the societal and policy impact of our research by:
- Providing critical thinking and a more nuanced understanding to the general public and key stakeholders of such trade-offs
- Participating in the policy debate and influence policy making in the design of appropriate policies in these areas.
Key policy stakeholders that we plan to reach are:
- National governments and supra-national organizations working on the rapid labour market transformations induced by the spread of ICT. The recently launched Flexible Working Task Force at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has the explicit aim of encouraging firms' uptake of flexible working arrangements. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have all started a new research and policy agenda on the Future of Work.
- National governments and supra-national organizations working on gender gaps in labour market outcomes. For example, The OECD has been heavily engaged in gender equality campaigns through its Gender Initiative, monitoring progress made by both member and non-member countries in implementing family friendly policies and workplace practices, as well as promoting gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship.
- Public bodies that focus on the costs and benefits of the ICT. The UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) is involved in estimating the economic impacts of broadband Internet diffusion), while the European Commission DG CONNECT is actively engaged in understanding the impact of Internet on economic growth and job creation.
We have already discussed our research project and recorded an interest by the following individuals : Stefano Scarpetta (Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs at the OECD), Mariya Gabriel and Roberto Viola (Commissioner and Director General of DG CONNECT at the European Commission respectively), Luisa Affuso (Chief Economist, Ofcom), Carmen Pages (Chief, Labor Markets and Social Security Division at Inter-American Development Bank), Alex Chisholm (Permanent Secretary and Chair of the Executive Committee, BEIS).
We plan to achieve maximum impact by means of the following pathways, leveraging on our contacts and reputation in policy circles, a proven experience of achieving impact for our research, and institutional support (see Pathways to Impact attachment):
1. Engaging in dissemination and public outreach activities
2. Preparing a white paper
3. Organizing a conference to be held at QM at the closing the grant cycle (appropriately costed in the grant) that combines presentations by academic researchers and a policy panel
We plan to achieve impact by focusing on some of the benefits to workers of such transformations, while also highlighting potential costs to individuals and society. These include increased job insecurity, lack of representation and formidable challenges to social protection and social security. The public and policy debates in the areas of future of work, innovation and the consequences for workers often travel on parallel paths and there is still a limited understanding of the design appropriate policies in the face of such trade-offs. With this in mind we plan to maximize the societal and policy impact of our research by:
- Providing critical thinking and a more nuanced understanding to the general public and key stakeholders of such trade-offs
- Participating in the policy debate and influence policy making in the design of appropriate policies in these areas.
Key policy stakeholders that we plan to reach are:
- National governments and supra-national organizations working on the rapid labour market transformations induced by the spread of ICT. The recently launched Flexible Working Task Force at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has the explicit aim of encouraging firms' uptake of flexible working arrangements. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have all started a new research and policy agenda on the Future of Work.
- National governments and supra-national organizations working on gender gaps in labour market outcomes. For example, The OECD has been heavily engaged in gender equality campaigns through its Gender Initiative, monitoring progress made by both member and non-member countries in implementing family friendly policies and workplace practices, as well as promoting gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship.
- Public bodies that focus on the costs and benefits of the ICT. The UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) is involved in estimating the economic impacts of broadband Internet diffusion), while the European Commission DG CONNECT is actively engaged in understanding the impact of Internet on economic growth and job creation.
We have already discussed our research project and recorded an interest by the following individuals : Stefano Scarpetta (Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs at the OECD), Mariya Gabriel and Roberto Viola (Commissioner and Director General of DG CONNECT at the European Commission respectively), Luisa Affuso (Chief Economist, Ofcom), Carmen Pages (Chief, Labor Markets and Social Security Division at Inter-American Development Bank), Alex Chisholm (Permanent Secretary and Chair of the Executive Committee, BEIS).
We plan to achieve maximum impact by means of the following pathways, leveraging on our contacts and reputation in policy circles, a proven experience of achieving impact for our research, and institutional support (see Pathways to Impact attachment):
1. Engaging in dissemination and public outreach activities
2. Preparing a white paper
3. Organizing a conference to be held at QM at the closing the grant cycle (appropriately costed in the grant) that combines presentations by academic researchers and a policy panel