Working From Home in Israel

The option of working from home made it possible for workers in many countries to maintain the economic activity during the pandemic, and it has become an integral part of our employment landscape. In a study entitled Working From Home in Israel, Taub Center researchers examine this form of employment among salaried workers and try to understand who worked from home during the pandemic and what their characteristics were. The study is based on the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Labor Force Survey, which since September 2020 has included data on work hours worked from home. The main conclusion of the study is that this type of employment is common primarily among stronger segments of the population – workers with an academic education and those in high-earning economic sectors of the labor market.

The study focused on the period from September 2020 until November 2021, which includes the second and third lockdowns and the military operation Guardian of the Walls. The descriptive part of the study focused on salaried workers who work a significant number of hours (20 hours or more during the sampled week). The data show that, in general, the rates of working from home were significantly higher during the lockdowns (about 25% during the second lockdown and 23% during the third) than during the period between the lockdowns (13%–15%) or during the period following the third lockdown (6%–7%). From the perspective of gender, it was found that the rate of working from home during the second lockdown was higher on average among women than among men (31% vs 20%); however, during the periods without a lockdown, the rates were similar. Furthermore, parents of young children (up to the age of 9) worked from home at higher rates than other men or women, and mothers of young children worked from home more than fathers of young children. Lower rates of working from home were observed in the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) and Arab sectors relative to the general population. Furthermore, the rates of working from home were usually higher among Arab and Haredi women than among their male counterparts, as was the case in the general population. The study also found that workers with higher education worked from home at higher rates than those with less education. Thus, at the peak of the second lockdown, about 39% of the working hours of workers with an academic education were from home as compared to about 17% of those with only a Bagrut (matriculation) certificate and about 5% of those without even a Bagrut certificate. Furthermore, variation was observed across economic sectors, for example, workers in information and communication had a higher rate of working from home than workers in other economic sectors, during both the lockdowns and the periods without a lockdown.

The research looked at the characteristics that determine the likelihood of a worker working from home as well as the fraction of work hours worked from home, while controlling for various sociodemographic variables. Most of the findings are in line with those of studies carried out in other countries. It was found that the likelihood of working from home was higher among workers with higher education, and in particular, it was 8 percentage points higher among workers with an academic education than among workers with lower education levels. Among workers who worked from home, it was found that the fraction of work hours worked from home was 9 percentage points higher among workers with an academic education than among workers without a Bagrut certificate and 6 percentage points higher than among workers with a Bagrut certificate. In a breakdown by population group, it was found that the likelihood of Haredi and Arabs working from home was significantly lower than for non-Haredi Jews by 3 and 7 percentage points respectively. Among workers working from home, the share of work hours worked from home among Arab workers was 8 percentage points lower than among non-Haredi Jews while the gap between the Haredi sector and the non-Haredi sector was not statistically significant. Another interesting finding is related to gender and parents of young children. The research found that the likelihood of  working from home among women is 4 percentage points higher than among men and that the fraction of work hours worked from home among women working from home is also greater than among men; however, the effect of gender diminishes in the case of workers with a Bagrut certificate or an academic education. Furthermore, among parents with children up to the age of 9, the likelihood of working from home is 2 percentage points higher and the likelihood increases by an additional percentage point for a mother of young children under 9. Nonetheless, among workers working from home it was found that the share of work hours worked from home is not related to parenthood. With respect to economic sector, it was found that the likelihood of working from home among workers in the information and communication sector is higher than among workers in other sectors and this was also the case with respect to the share of work hours worked from home among workers who are indeed working from home.

It appears that further research is needed in order for the labor market and workers to fully take advantage of the option of working from home – to understand which workers and which employers are best suited to this type of employment and what is the correct balance between working from home and working in the work place. To this end, an organized effort is needed to gather relevant information on labor productivity and satisfaction among workers and employers. This can be done by means of, for example, periodic surveys of workers and employers, controlled experiments, or the use of already existing hybrid models. Monitoring the effectiveness of the transition to working from home in various economic sectors and occupations and the frequent publishing of the results will provide useful information to employers and decision makers.