The social distancing measures that have recently been introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, have forced many people to work from home; for many of them this will be the first time that they have had to do so. However, how common was working from home before these measures came into force?

In 2019, 5.4% of employed persons in the European Union (EU) who were aged 15-64, usually worked from home. This share has remained constant at around 5% throughout the last decade. However, over the same period, the share of those who sometimes worked from home has been rising: from 6.0% in 2009 to 9.0% in 2019, Eurostat data showed.

Over the last decade, the share of self-employed persons who report that they usually work from home has been consistently higher than the share of employees who usually work remotely; the share of self-employed who do this has also been on an upwards trend, rising from 16.2% in 2009 to 19.4% in 2019. For comparison, just 3.2% of employees reported that they usually work from home in 2019, although this has risen slightly from 2.7% in 2009.

More women than men work from home

There are different trends reflected according to the age and sex of workers, when it comes to home-working. In 2019, a slightly higher share of women reported that they usually worked from home than men (5.7% compared with 5.2%). Furthermore, persons in the older age groups were more likely to work from home: 6.6% of those aged between 50-64 years old usually worked from home, as did 5.2% of persons aged between 25-49. By contrast, just 2.1% of younger people, aged between 15-24, reported that they usually worked from home.

Highest share of people working from home in the Netherlands and Finland

The Netherlands and Finland topped the list of EU Member States for remote-working, with 14.1% of employed people usually working from home in 2019. They were followed by Luxembourg and Austria (where 11.6% and 9.9% respectively usually worked from home).

By contrast, the lowest rates of home-workers were reported in Bulgaria (0.5%), Romania (0.8%), Hungary (1.2%), Cyprus (1.3%), Croatia and Greece (both 1.9%).