COVID-19 and remote work inequality: Evidence from South Korea

ABSTRACT Even though remote work in South Korea was very unusual before the pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic has facilitated remote work, so the ratio of remote workers to total employees increased from 0.5% in 2019 to 5.4% in 2021. In this regard, this study investigated determinants of remote work during the pandemic using the Economically Active Population Survey in 2019, 2020, and 2021 with a logistic regression. Since the Korean government did not impose a national lockdown and business owners introduced remote work voluntarily, this study can identify significant heterogeneity. First, younger, female, highly-educated, and high-earning workers are more likely to work remotely. Second, large firms tend to provide more remote work opportunities to their employees. Lastly, ICT, finance, and education sectors present high probabilities to remote work. In recent times, remote work has been considered an important trigger to alleviate long working hours and improve work-life balance in Korea; however, it is also necessary to relieve remote work inequality.