- More than 40 per cent of Australians regularly work from home, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
- The ABS figures from August this year show an 8.4 per cent jump in the number of people working from home, with two-thirds of managers and professionals adopting the practice
- The work from home numbers for August correlate with wide-spread lockdowns across Australia’s east coast, as the pandemic pushed more workers to stay home
- New statistics from the Property Council show office occupancy has begun to rise in Sydney, as the number of COVID-19 cases ease and restrictions lift
More than 40 per cent of Australians regularly work from home, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
New ABS figures from August this year show an 8.4 per cent jump in the number of Australians working at home.
It also revealed just under two-thirds of managers and professionals worked from home, compared to 25 per cent of those working in other occupations.
ABS Head of Statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the increase in people working from home coincided with large-scale lockdowns across Australia’s east coast.
“Prior to the pandemic, the percentage of employed people working from home on a regular basis had been steadily increasing by around a percentage point every two years,” he said.
“Our latest data for August 2021, as the Delta period impacts were deepening, are showing an 8.4 percentage point jump to 40.6 per cent.”
As the number of cases ease and restrictions lift, evidence has emerged of a recovery in the number of people returning to work.
New statistics from the Property Council show office occupancy was on the rise throughout the months of November in Australia’s largest city, Sydney.
Property Council’s NSW Executive Director Luke Achterstraat said there were positive signs that office occupancy would continue to rise in 2022.
“Restrictions are easing, business events are resuming and our public servants are returning to offices, so we can expect further increases in office occupancy into the new year,” Mr Achterstraat said.