Post-pandemic, Vermont businesses rejiggered telework
More Vermont businesses have become all-remote workplaces, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). But fewer allow hybrid arrangements, where some employees work from home some of the time. 1
When the pandemic hit in 2020, about 30 percent of Vermont businesses—accounting for more than 150,000 workers—expanded opportunities for their employees to work from outside the office. As vaccination increased and the risk of COVID subsided, companies reassessed their telework policies.
According to the BLS, the number of establishments where all employees work remotely all the time increased about 40 percent from 2021 to 2022. Meanwhile, other businesses appear to have cut back on telework. The number allowing a mix of in-office and remote work dropped by a third.
THIS MONTH
Three years ago, the number of Vermonters working fell by 39,000, practically overnight. Last month, almost 1,400 more people found work, pushing the number employed to 336,971. Vermont needs another 5,500 people working to get employment back to where it was before the pandemic. Meanwhile, unemployment fell by about 600, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 2.7 percent from 2.8 percent in February.
- The data are based on survey responses collected from samples of private employers from July 1-Sept. 30, 2021 and Aug. 1-Sept. 30, 2022.[↩]
