Measuring the telework potential of jobs: evidence from the International Standard Classification of Occupations

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered and accelerated the shift of firms and businesses to adopt flexible alternative work arrangements such as teleworking or working from home (WFH) set-ups. To effectively transition to the ‘new normal’ of work, this paper measures the telework potential of jobs or the degree to which a job can be feasibly done at home or offsite. Using the task-based framework, this paper constructs continuous ‘teleworkability’ indices by implementing a classification process of the occupational tasks listed in the International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO-08) and based on the telework indicators in the literature. The correlates of these indices are estimated. Also, the indices are applied to Philippine occupations. The primary contribution of this paper is the set of ‘teleworkability’ indices for all 427 occupations (4-digit ISCO) to describe the telework potential of jobs in countries which pattern their local occupational codes to ISCO-08. 

JEL classification: J22, J21, J20