Covid-19 Pushes 46pc to Work From Home

Nearly half of all Australians in employment during the Covid-19 pandemic are working from home, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The snapshot of changes between March and May showed 46 per cent of Australians worked from home with 17 per cent increasing the number of hours working from home since the start of Covid-19.

The noticeable change has hit the office market with major listings being pulled from the market due to uncertainty in future yields and valuations.

The shift to working from home has also led business owners to reevaluate the use and need for office space.

Meanwhile, residential developers and buyers have said they are looking to incorporate offices into their home plans.

ABS program manager for household surveys Michelle Marquardt said Australians had made significant changes to their working lives during the pandemic.

“Of those who were not working from home, 89 per cent reported they couldn’t due to the type of job they had,” Marquardt said.

“Women were more likely than men to have been working from home (56 per cent compared with 38 per cent).”

The survey also found people made changes to their lifestyles, 22 per cent said they were eating more snack food, 14 per cent were consuming more alcohol while 10 per cent were consuming less, 58 per cent were doing more screen time and 38 per cent spent more time cooking.

“Around one in five people (19 per cent) also reported that they were experiencing difficulties maintaining a healthy lifestyle, which was more of a problem for those aged 18 to 64 years (22 per cent) than those aged 65 years and over (9 per cent),” Marquardt said.

During April 594,000 people lost their job according to another report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics with the jobless rate climbing to 6.2 per cent leading major lenders to predict house price falls in the coming months.

However the rate of unemployment as well as home office useage could change with many businesses reopening albeit to limited capacity by mid-June.