Hopes that working from home would help struggling UK regions attract high-skilled workers are not being realised, according to new research co-led by the University of St Andrews.
The report has found that working from home (WFH) could in fact be exacerbating the spatial and social inequality which persisted before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Working from home has surged since the pandemic, especially among older, high-skilled professionals in and around London and other major cities. But it has not drastically changed where people live, nor helped spread talent more evenly across the UK.
Most high-skilled workers still follow hybrid patterns, splitting time between home and office, and therefore stay within reach of major employment hubs. This limits the potential of working from home to reduce regional inequality or boost growth outside the Greater South-East.
When high-skilled workers move, housing increasingly tends to be the driver rather than jobs. The idea that working from home would allow lagging regions to attract high earners is, for now, yet to materialise, if ever.
The study was led by Dr David McCollum from the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews and the ESRC Centre for Population Change and Connecting Generations. Research was in collaboration with the University of Southampton, the University of Birmingham, De Montfort University, and the University of the Arts London, and was co-funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The research team analysed data from the England and Wales 2021 Census, the UK Household Longitudinal Study and Labour Force Survey. They also conducted interviews with stakeholders from local and regional government, businesses, and universities in Glasgow, Sheffield and Birmingham, three second-tier regional cities with distinct economic profiles and changing patterns of high-skilled employment.
Interviewees noted some advantages of working from home, such as wider recruitment opportunities, more efficient use of office space, and the ability to attract workers to their regions due to lower living costs. But they raised concerns about quieter city centres, weaker workplace culture, and the limited ability to work from home in many sectors.
There was broad agreement that local challenges like low skills, economic inactivity, skills shortages, and poor job quality cannot be solved by attracting high-skilled workers alone. Interviewees stressed that local economies benefit most when high-skilled workers both live and work in the area. This underlines the importance of promoting and improving local assets and amenities to attract and retain talent.
The study also highlights serious data gaps in understanding how working from home affects where people live and work. It calls for more detailed national survey questions and local data, and further research on employer perspectives across sectors.
Dr McCollum said: "Working from home has been and continues to be socially and spatially stratified, in that it is much more prevalent amongst high skilled workers and in more prosperous locales.
"There is no evidence of a mass relocation of footloose workers, and those who do move are more attracted to places that have a cultural and aesthetic 'offer' rather than lower housing costs."
He added; "The WFH revolution has thus unfortunately largely bypassed the places and population sub-groups that policies such as Levelling Up were aimed at supporting. Looking forward, the post-pandemic geography of home and work relations is still emerging. The UK data infrastructure is not yet well equipped to elucidate these developments."
Category Research
