108 million Americans can't do their jobs from home 

A new study finds that about three-quarters of US workers, or 108 million people, are in jobs they cannot do from home during a pandemic, putting these workers at increased risk of exposure to disease.

This majority of workers are also at higher risk for other job disruptions such as layoffs, furloughs, or hours reductions, the researchers report.

Such job disruptions can cause stress, anxiety, and other mental health outcomes that could persist even as the United States reopens its economic and social life, says author Marissa Baker, an assistant professor in the environmental and occupational health sciences department at the University of Washington.

These workers also represent some of the lowest paid workers in the US workforce, Baker emphasizes.

The remaining 25% of US workers, or 35.6 million people, are in jobs that can be done at home. These jobs are typically in highly-paid occupational sectors such as finance, administration, computer engineering, and technology.

Even as the economy begins to reopen, these workers will continue to be better shielded from exposure to the virus and have an increased ability to care for a child at home—further growing the disparity between the top quarter of the workforce and the rest, the study finds.

4 groups of workers

“This pandemic has really exacerbated existing vulnerabilities in American society, with workers most affected by the pandemic and stay-at-home orders being significantly lower paid and now also at increased risk for mental health outcomes associated with job insecurity and displacement, in addition to increased risk of exposure to COVID-19 if they keep going to work,” says Baker.

“The most privileged workers will have a job that can be done at home, reducing their risk of exposure, and enabling them to continue to work even as office buildings were closed. Unfortunately, only a quarter of the US workforce falls into this category. The fact that these are some of the highest paid workers in the US is no surprise,” Baker adds.

In the study in the American Journal of Public Health, Baker examined 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics data characterizing the importance of interacting with the public and the importance of using a computer at work to understand which workers could work from home during a pandemic event, and which workers would experience work disruptions due to COVID-19.

Using these two characteristics of work and how important they are in different types of jobs, Baker’s analysis determined four main groups of occupations:

“The workers for whom computer use is not important at work but interactions with the public is are some of the lowest paid workers,” Baker says. “And during this pandemic, they face compounding risks of exposure to COVID-19, job loss, and adverse mental health outcomes associated with job loss.”

Jobs and public health

As the economy reopens, some workers who have been unable to work at home but did continue to go to work during the pandemic—such as some healthcare workers, security guards, or bus drivers—may now face layoffs as organizations adjust to reduced demand and economic pressures force layoffs, Baker explains.

On the upside, workers in construction, manufacturing, production, or freight transport who may have been laid off or furloughed during the pandemic will likely be some of the first industries to rebound and hire workers back.

However, the 18.9% of workers in occupations such as retail or food services, many of whom were laid off during the pandemic, may not have a job to go back to, further extending their job displacement and increasing adverse health effects associated with job loss. Those who are able to go back to work face a higher risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus still active in populations across the country.

Given the relationship between job insecurity or job displacement and mental health outcomes including stress, depression, or anxiety, there could be a large burden of mental health outcomes among these workers.

“These results underscore the important role that work plays in public health. Workplace policies and practices enacted during a pandemic event or other public health emergency should aim to establish and maintain secure employment and living wages for all workers and consider both physical and mental health outcomes, even after the emergency subsides,” Baker says.