Teleworking: An approach to its measurement using official labor surveys in Latin America

Abstract: In this paper we propose a comparable measure of approximate teleworkers in Latin American countries using official labor surveys. To do this, we start from a review of the context and concept of teleworking that allows a better understanding of the matter. Then, we study the literature and propose a standard methodology, understanding teleworkers as homeworkers with occupations supported by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Finally, we apply our methodological proposal in Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina, finding that the conditions imposed by the pandemic seem to have increased levels of effective use of telework. However, the use of telework has not been "massive", even in the face of the severity of the pandemic. We close the paper by exploring the characteristics of the approximate teleworkers, obtaining that they tend to be more female, have university education, and work in small firms; they also are slightly older than other workers.