Remote Working in Germany Prevails – Just Not Everywhere
Germany’s management consultancies are particularly likely to have staff working from home, according to ifo Institute surveys. In November, the proportion of people in that sector who work from home at least some of the time rose to 72.5 percent, up from 71.5 in August. Remote working is also widespread among IT service providers (71.7 percent) and in advertising and market research (60.4 percent). “Looking at the German economy overall, the proportion of employees working remotely is stabilizing at 25 percent. We also expect that figure to remain largely the same over the long term,” says Prof. Oliver Falck, Director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.
“Back in April 2022, when the requirement for companies to offer remote working was lifted, the rate was 24.9 percent,” Falck says. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, less than 15 percent of employees worked from home occasionally or frequently. In the US, he adds, the proportion of days worked remotely has stabilized over the past few months at 30 percent.
In German manufacturing, clothing manufacturers (32.1 percent) and manufacturers of data processing equipment (26.6 percent) are especially likely to have people working remotely. “But then there are other occupations that are simply not suited to remote working,” Falck says. Although the proportion of remote workers in the hospitality industry has increased, it remained low in November at 2.3 percent, up from 1.7 percent in August. Rates also continued to be low in accommodation (2.4 percent) and in the wood industry (4.5 percent).
A total of 36.1 percent of people working for service providers took advantage of remote working. In wholesale and manufacturing, that figure was just under 16 percent, while in retail it was 6.1 percent and in construction 5.3 percent.
