Number of People Working From Home in Germany Virtually Unchanged

As the latest wave of the coronavirus reached its peak, the number of people in Germany working from home remained largely the same. In February, 28.2 percent of employees worked from home at least some of the time; in January that figure was 28.4 percent. This is the finding of an ifo Institute survey. “This means that the Omicron wave isn’t increasing the proportion of people working from home, which is now a good three percentage points below its March 2021 peak,” says Jean-Victor Alipour, an ifo Institute expert on working from home. The remote-working potential of 56 percent calculated by the ifo Institute is only half exhausted.

In manufacturing, the proportion fell from 20.2 to 19.0 percent; in wholesale, from 20.2 to 19.5 percent; and in retail, from 6.9 to 6.3 percent. In construction, the share remained unchanged. Only among service providers did the rate rise, from 39.2 to 39.6 percent.

In the clothing industry, the proportion of people working from home fell sharply from 37.9 to 33.8 percent. It also dropped in the chemical industry, from 21.7 to 18.8 percent. In programming and broadcasting and among film producers, sound studios, and movie theaters, the rate increased significantly. In advertising and market research, the share remained high: it rose to 65.3 percent, up from 60.3 percent in January. For travel agencies and tour operators, the rate fell from 45.0 to 38.8 percent.