Report: Remote work has grown increasingly common in recent years
William O'Boyle, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
5 min read
Nov. 28—WILKES-BARRE — According to the 2021 Indicators Report compiled by The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, remote work has grown increasingly common for workers and employers in recent years, even before the coronavirus pandemic.
"The arrival of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020 led to a further spike in the popularity of remote work, as workplaces closed and an unprecedented number of employers encouraged or required employees to work from outside the office," said Teri Ooms, executive director at The Institute.
Ooms said several cities and regions throughout the United States have begun to implement incentive programs designed to attract remote workers to live in their communities while working for employers elsewhere.
Some of these talent incentive programs were based on earlier economic development initiatives. For example, Savannah, Georgia recently launched the Savannah Technology Workforce Incentive, which offers $2,000 grants for remote tech workers who move to the city — a modified version of a program that was initially designed to attract companies rather than individuals.
Ooms said a common component of the programs implemented by state and local governments is a direct cash incentive — often $10,000 — offered to full-time workers who are willing to move to the city or region and work remotely from there.
Some programs offer other benefits as well, such as access to co-working spaces and other amenities, and memberships with local cultural institutions.
"Each program has a set of eligibility requirements," Ooms said. "Depending on the program, applicants may need to meet requirements such as full-time employment, a certain number of years of work experience, and full-time residence in the region within a certain amount of time, among others."
One program that has received a large amount of media attention during the pandemic is Tulsa Remote, launched in 2018. Tulsa Remote offers $10,000 grants and access to co-working space to remote workers if they move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and stay there for at least a year.
Vermont has a statewide Remote Worker Program for remote workers who become full-time residents of the state, as well as a New Worker Relocation Grant Program to attract on-site workers. In Northwest Arkansas, the Life Works Here initiative offers applicants a $10,000 cash incentive along with either a bicycle or a membership with a cultural institution.
Some of these programs receive funding from philanthropic foundations; for example, Tulsa Remote is funded in part by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, and Northwest Arkansas' initiative is supported by the Walton Family Foundation.
"There is not much evidence currently regarding the effectiveness of these types of talent attraction programs, because they have only recently been implemented," Ooms said.
According to some experts, cash incentives may not be sufficient on their own to attract remote workers to regions they would not live in otherwise, and regions must be attractive in other ways as well. Northwest Arkansas' program advertises the region's low cost of living, higher-than-average per capita income, and access to culture and outdoor activities. Savannah, Georgia's program also emphasizes the city's low cost of living, as well as its growing technology industry. Tulsa Remote emphasizes Tulsa's cultural strengths and its nonprofit sector.
Ooms said Northeast Pennsylvania may be able to take advantage of certain regional strengths and characteristics in order to attract skilled remote workers. Similar to some of the regions currently offering talent incentives for remote workers, the cost of living is relatively low in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.
More specifically, housing costs in the two-county region tend to be lower than in other parts of Pennsylvania and the United States. The median rent in both counties is close to $800, compared to approximately $950 in Pennsylvania and $1,100 nationally. The median value of owner-occupied homes is also significantly lower in Northeast Pennsylvania than at the state or national levels.
Ooms said the region also has a number of other strengths, including close proximity to major metropolitan areas like New York and Philadelphia, access to outdoor recreational activities, a large healthcare industry, and several institutions for higher education.
"However, the availability and the quality of affordable housing needs to be addressed in the region," Ooms said. "There is very limited new housing stock. The majority of housing was built before 1939. New housing, both owner and rental, is limited, and subsidized or affordable housing construction has been scarce in the region."
Ooms said there would likely be challenges associated with using an incentive to attract remote workers to Northeast Pennsylvania. One potential barrier to attracting talent is lower wages offered by jobs in the region; median earnings for full-time, year-round workers are lower in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties than in Pennsylvania or the United States as a whole.
According to The Institute's student survey (discussed in the previous section), the availability of jobs that pay well in a job seeker's desired field is an important factor for deciding where to live and work.
"It may be difficult to attract skilled workers to NEPA if those workers believe they could earn significantly more elsewhere," Ooms said.
For many administrative positions, care givers, retail, hospitality, and entry level warehouse workers, with average wages of $12-$19 per hour, the cost of daily day care may make employment less attractive.
Another issue is that there may be a mismatch between the types of jobs that are in high demand in the region and the types of jobs that can be performed remotely. Some of the occupation categories that are experiencing the largest labor shortages in Northeast Pennsylvania — such as healthcare practitioners, social service occupations, and healthcare support occupations — include jobs that often require on-site workers.
"Because of this, incentives to attract remote workers may not be sufficient as a solution to addressing all of the region's workforce shortages," Ooms said. "However, this approach could be more effective for addressing shortages in other occupation categories, such as management occupations, business and financial operations occupations, and computer and mathematical occupations."
As hiring continues at a brisk pace and the economy recovers from pandemic-related disruption, the structural aspect of unemployment becomes a more critical element in planning for workforce and the talent pipeline.
Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
