December 12, 2022 – New York – Today, Adzuna, the smarter job search engine, is releasing a study on the future of hybrid, remote, and in-office work, in particular where the future of the office might be heading. The number of new jobs posted every month continues to grow, with hybrid and remote positions dominating advertised vacancies, but over the last five months, the proportion of job vacancies specifying roles are ‘office-based’ has started creeping back up, as some employers become firmer on returning to the office.
For this study, Adzuna conducted a year over year analysis of advertised job vacancies across the United States and found that from November 2020 to 2022, job postings grew by more than 6.2 million, yet less than two percent are for office-based roles, whereas ads for remote roles rose by nearly 10%.
Paul Lewis, Chief Customer Officer at Adzuna, comments: “Employers are becoming more polarized in their approach to flexible working. In one camp, the likes of Elon Musk are mandating a return to the office, with the Tesla CEO recently asking Twitter employees to prepare to work 40 hours a week on site. And he’s not the only one, with companies including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs also adopting a non-flexible approach. In the other camp, some employers have become remote first, or guarantee flexible working as tactics to attract new talent. We’ve seen a surge in the number of advertised vacancies for remote and hybrid positions, even with the return-to-office push seeming to be in full effect from top companies, and flexibility remains at the top of many jobseekers’ wishlists. The current market still seems to be a jobseeker’s game, however, with more companies drawing a line in the sand over their return-to-office policies and demand for labor cooling slightly, it’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.”
Below are key findings from the analysis:
The Impact of COVID-19 on the Job Market
In March 2020, advertised vacancies fell from 4.3 million to 3.9 million. Numbers fluctuated in the coming months before rising again in August to 4.6 million. With the return of job postings, there was also a downturn of office-based roles and a rise in remote and hybrid positions.
- In February 2020, positions specifying they are ‘office-based’ made up 2.8% of advertised vacancies with hybrid positions making up 0.6% and fully remote positions making up 4%.
- By April 2020, only 2.4% of postings were advertised as ‘office-based,’ compared to 0.5% advertised as ‘hybrid’ roles and 5.2% as ‘remote.’
Increased Demand for Remote Work
Since then, there’s been a steady increase in remote roles while office-based positions have stayed relatively steady.
- In August 2022, vacancies labeled ‘remote’ accounted for 15.4% of advertised positions, while vacancies specifying they are ‘office-based’ made up 4% of positions.
- This is a vast difference from August 2020 where ‘remote’ postings made up 4.6% while ‘office-based’ positions made up 1.6% of advertised vacancies.
How Delta and Omicron Affected the Return-to-Office
Looking at COVID-19’s highest peaks, such as the Delta and Omicron variants, the data shows how these variants affected the job market.
- At Delta’s surge during summer 2021, the number of remote postings rose from 10.7% to 11.2% before falling at the end of summer back to 10.4%.
- During Omicron’s reign towards the end of 2021, the number of advertised vacancies in general dropped from 9.3 million in November 2021 to 8.2 million in January 2022 before rising again to 8.9 million in February.
2023: The Year of the Return to the Office?
- Since summer 2022, many companies are becoming firmer on mandatory return-to-office policies, and the proportion of roles specifying they are ‘office-based’ has risen to a 19-month high of 4.2%.
- Meanwhile, the proportion of vacancies labeled ‘remote’ has slipped to a 10-month low of 13.8%.
Methodology
Based on a year over year comparison, the research analyzed all advertised job vacancies across the United States between January 2020 and November 2022, revealing the percentages and overall numbers of disclosed remote, hybrid, and in-office positions.
About Adzuna
Adzuna is a smarter, more transparent job search engine. We help tens of millions of US job seekers access more than eight million US jobs each month, so they can cut through the noise, zero in on the right role faster and land the right job.
Adzuna gives job seekers access to every available online job listing in a single site — without giving anyone else access to their personal data — and our unique tools and salary stats help job seekers pinpoint the perfect role so they can earn what they’re actually worth. We love using the power of our technology to match people to better, more fulfilling jobs and keep Americans working.
Founded in 2011 by Andrew Hunter and Doug Monro, Adzuna is a privately held company backed by Index Ventures, LocalGlobe and Smedvig Capital. In 2022, Adzuna acquired enterprise job search engine Getwork. Follow Adzuna on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn or learn more at https://www.adzuna.com.
