Estimation of the Teleworker Ratio at Municipality Level during the COVID-19 Emergency: Based on the National Survey on Teleworking

Abstract

By multiplying the national age–occupation-specific share of teleworking employees obtained from the national survey on teleworking by each municipality’s age–occupation-specific number of employees obtained from the population census, this paper estimates the share of teleworking employees on a small spatial scale. The pattern of the estimated share of teleworking employees exhibits a west-high/east-low contrast, along with a higher rate in metropolitan than in nonmetropolitan areas. This pattern is underpinned by the fact that municipalities’ share of blue-collar employees also shows an opposite west–east contrast. Employees engaged in service, few of whom are teleworkers, are distributed evenly within the country, irrespective of the level of each municipality’s share of teleworking employees. The results indicate the necessity not only to focus on the spatial discrepancy of opportunity to secure teleworkable jobs but also to delve into possible disparities within a locality where stable, high-income jobs for teleworkers are sustained by poorly paid essential workers whose unstable jobs are difficult to undertake through teleworking.