Written by Ashley Slud
COVID-19 has impacted almost every area of life imaginable. In particular the workforce – including both blue-collar and white-collar workers – have been hit hard. While working from home once seemed like a rarity, it is now the norm — and many, especially parents, certainly do not view it as ideal anymore. When the pandemic first began in March, almost all workers, (mostly white-collar and some blue-collar), began working remotely. Individuals expected remote work to last only a few weeks; now, a year later, some are unsure when, or if they will ever return to the workplace full-time.
Interestingly enough, the inability to work in-person in an office environment has made a surprising yet positive impact on the environment and for white collar workers. The intuition behind these positive outcomes is that with less cars on the road and less subways running (for example) a steep decline in pollution can be seen. Compared to last year, levels of air pollution in New York City are 50% lower, thanks to COVID-19’s positive externalities from efforts to stop the spread of the virus. (Rume and Islam, 2020). In fact, it could even be seen from space just how much less polluted our Earth is. With reduced traffic/transportation, factory production, airline flights, waste disposal, etc. air quality has improved, consequently leading to ecological restoration taking place. These environmental factors are a beacon of hope in the midst of a pandemic that has brought devastation to the lives of many. However hopeful this positive news of environmental success may be, emissions aren’t the only thing falling due to COVID; so is employment. While all sectors of the workforce saw drops in employment, industrial workers were disproportionately affected. Companies, such as Best Buy, laid off workers and/or dramatically reduced working hours – a consequence of most orders being placed online. With less people coming into stores to purchase or borrow, a lesser need for sales associates followed (Lang, 2021). Unlike white collar workers who are often able to seamlessly transition to remote work, these blue-collar workers could not continue their work from homes.
The effects of white-collar workers working from home isn’t without consequence, though. With people coming into work less, city center populations are decreasing. Why live so close to a populated city when it’s not necessary anymore? With residents moving out, the once populated urban areas are left feeling vacant and desolate. Those who live in small, crammed apartments because of its proximity to their work are considering shifting their residence. Workers who must come into the office periodically will move farther away from city centers, but still within reasonable commuting distance, therefore leading to a shift from cities to suburbs or smaller surrounding towns (Levanon, 2020). According to The Conference Board September 2020 survey, companies are now far more willing to hire remote workers than they were before the pandemic: 52 percent were willing before COVID-19 vs. 88 percent now (Conference Board 2020). Companies that have offices located in principal cities, such as New York City, Miami, and Denver, are now not as desirable as they once were. Living where you work is a thing of the past. In spending more time online and in their homes, people are migrating to places where they are able to get a better space for their money. When the place you work is now the same place you eat, sleep, and work out, more square footage is immensely tempting.
So where exactly are people moving? An interesting statistic to look at when trying to analyze and pinpoint these moving patterns is the one-way U-Haul data. By looking at data collected from U-Haul customers, growth states are able to be calculated and linked to possible reasons for moving. In 2020, the top three growth states were Tennessee, Texas and Florida (Lockridge, 2021). The U-Haul Company of Nashville president believes that Tennessee took the lead because there is “no income tax and [it] is very business-friendly. There are plenty of jobs” (Lockridge, 2021). In fact, all three of these top growth states have no income taxes. A benefit of this is “come tax season, residents of these states are able to pocket their hard-earned money and save for retirement, vacations, school tuition and more.” (White, 2019) With the pandemic, people want to escape the hustle and bustle of the West Coast. The demand for city living is going down; as a result, the rents of once expensive apartments in cities such as San Francisco are declining. In fact, San Francisco’s “one-bedroom rents are down nearly 25 percent in a year, and nearly 30 percent from their 2019 peak” (Schneider, 2021). In accordance, rents and prices of homes outside of the cities or in the suburbs are increasing.
The question now is where do cities and businesses go from here? Cities whose revenues thrived off of tourism, entertainment, restaurants, merchandise sales and more have to pivot how they gain their profits. Additionally, thousands of small businesses have had to shut their doors, with those still lasting hoping to survive with support from loyal customers. Being flexible and adaptable is a major takeaway many have learned from 2020. Things go out of style: bell bottom jeans, whole milk, and now, living in highly populated cities.
Appendix
Gray, E. (2020, November 17). Model Shows Extent COVID-related Pollution Levels Deviated from Norm. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-model-reveals-how-much-covid-related-pollution-levels-deviated-from-the-norm/
Lang, H. (2021, March 4). U.S. Jobless Claims Hold Nearly Steady. WSJ. https://www.wsj.com/articles/weekly-jobless-claims-coronavirus-03-04-2021-11614811082
Levanon, G. (2020, October 3). The City Center Recession—And The Resilience Of Suburban America. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/gadlevanon/2020/10/02/the-city-center-recession-and-the-resilience-of-suburban-america/?sh=5eab82a037b3
Rume, T., & Islam, S. M. D.-U. (2020). Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability. Heliyon, 6(9), e04965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04965
Schneider, B. (2021, January 5). San Francisco Rents Keep Dropping. SF Weekly. https://www.sfweekly.com/news/san-francisco-rents-keep-dropping/
The Conference Board. (2020, November). Survey: Companies 3 Times More Willing to Hire Remote Workers Anywhere in US or World. https://conference-board.org/press/Hire-Remote-Workers-Survey
Thompson, D. (2020, December 14). The Workforce Is About to Change Dramatically. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/just-small-shift-remote-work-could-change-everything/614980/
U-Haul International. (2021, March 7). 2020 Migration Trends: U-Haul Ranks 50 States by Migration Growth. https://www.uhaul.com/Articles/About/22746/2020-Migration-Trends-U-Haul-Ranks-50-States-By-Migration-Growth/
White, M. (2019, March 13). Should You Move to a State With No Income… Moving.Com. https://www.moving.com/tips/should-you-move-to-a-state-with-no-income-tax/