Loneliness, mental health and the work-from-home revolution

Summary

The large increase in remote work since 2020 has prompted concerns about adverse effects on population loneliness and mental health. We show that any such adverse effects were transitory, in a UK context. We use panel data from UKHLS and differences-in-differences estimators that flexibly control for a rich set of covariates to compare changes in key variables amongst two groups: those who worked in teleworkable occupations in 2019, and those who worked in non-teleworkable occupations in 2019. While the former experience large and persistent increases in their probability of working remotely compared to the latter, adverse relative changes in self reported loneliness or adverse mental health symptoms during the pandemic had disappeared by the year 2023.