Did COVID-19 Level the Playing Field or Entrench It? Comparing Patterns of Homeworking by Ethnicity, Gender and Migration Status, Before, During and After COVID-19 in the UK

Abstract

This study examines how the pandemic changed the ethnicity gaps in working-from-home practices in the UK. We do this by examining seven waves of the UK Labour Force Survey from 2017 to 2023, divided into three time periods—pre-pandemic, during-lockdown and post-lockdown. The results show that although the gap found between White and BME workers in the pre-pandemic period disappears as we move into the post-lockdown period, there are large differences between different ethnicities, especially when we intersect ethnicity with migration status, gender, and parental status. Even in the post-lockdown period of 2022–2023, Black men, particularly Black fathers, stood out for their low levels of homeworking, alongside Chinese and ‘Other Asian’ workers - both men and women. On closer inspection, we found that it was especially migrant workers from these ethnicities who were significantly worse off in terms of their access to homeworking. The paper shows that although we see a positive change in homeworking, which has increased for most ethnic groups over the course of the pandemic, certain groups are still left behind in this growth. The paper further highlights the need for an intersectional analysis when examining such labour market patterns.