Work from Home Falls to 30.8 Percent in Germany
Slightly fewer German employees worked from home in April than in the previous month, according to an ifo Institute survey. It found that the number of employees who worked from home at least part of the time fell to 30.8 percent in April, from 31.7 percent in March and 30.3 percent in February. “Strict compliance with the obligation to work from home in times of Covid-19 seems to be waning,” says Jean-Victor Alipour, an ifo Institute expert on working from home.
The decline is evident across many industries: in manufacturing, work from home fell from 23.4 to 22.4 percent, among service providers it fell from 42.6 to 41.1 percent, and in trade it fell from 19 to 18.9 percent. Only in construction did the proportion grow, from 8.3 to 11.3 percent
The ifo Institute estimates that across all industries, 56 percent of employees could work from home at least part of the time. However, both the potential and actual usage vary widely by industry. Information technology service providers are in the lead in usage at 79.8 percent; their potential is 87.4 percent. In the pharmaceutical industry, usage is 39.4 percent, but 62.6 percent ought to be possible. There are two industries where usage is far below potential: land transport and transport via pipelines at 11.4 percent, where 50.2 percent could work from home; and manufacturers of wood, straw, and plaiting material articles at 9.7 percent, where 42.8 percent would be possible.
