Does the Ability to Work Remotely Alter Labor Force Attachment? An Analysis of Female Labor Force Participation

Abstract

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large share of the employed switched to remote work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)'s Current Population Survey (CPS), almost 40 percent of workers were working remotely in May 2020 because of the pandemic (figure 1, purple line), adding to the evidence from other individual- and firm-level surveys.