16% Of People Now Working From Home In Northern Ireland

The Covid-19 pandemic changed a great deal of things for so many people. Some of the changes were temporary but some look like they are here to stay, not least being the fact that more people are working from home than ever before.

Homeworking Has More Than Doubled Across The UK

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that 16% of people in Northern Ireland are now working from home. This seems quite a high figure but it is actually a lot lower than most other regions in the UK. For instance in London, the South East and the East of England there are now 30% of people working from home. Overall the figures show that homeworking has more than doubled across the UK since the advent of the pandemic. As well as these there are another few million who spend at least one day a week working from home.

Half Said They Were Spending Less Money Working From Home

Here are a few figures from the ONS as copied from an article in the Mail Plus:

‘Men, the over-60s and professionals were most likely to be based at home while tradesmen, carers and those working in leisure were least likely.

‘Half of home workers told researchers they were spending less money, including on buying a sandwich and a coffee at a train station, as well as saving on commuting costs.

‘Analysis of the long-running Labour Force Survey found that just before the Covid-19 outbreak, between October and December 2019, there were 4.7million people across the UK working at home.

‘But by January to March this year, even as the Government order to work from home was finally lifted, the figure had more than doubled to reach 9.9million.

‘This accounts for almost one in three (31 per cent) of the entire British workforce, the ONS said in a bulletin published today.

‘There was also a major drop in the number of people commuting from their homes to a workplace in another region.

‘Another 2.8million people who were mainly based in the office still spent at least one day a week working from home, analysis revealed.

‘The ONS also found that ‘around half of those who worked from home as a result of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic reported spending less as a result’.

‘Alongside reduced spending on transport, one reason for this could be reduced spending on locally consumed goods and services while commuting and in the workplace,’ it said.

‘Professionals such as lawyers and accountants were most likely to be ‘WFH’ at the start of the year (43 per cent of those questioned).

‘There was a slight gender gap, with 31 per cent of men home working compared with 30 per cent of women.

‘But the generation gap was bigger, with those aged over 60 most likely to be based at home and the under-30s more commonly in the office, shop floor or factory.’

Homeworking can be very beneficial for many workers, but on the downside the fact that they are spending less money means that many businesses will see a downturn in their sales.