Roberto Gallardo has a new report on the impact of remote work in Indiana…

Working from home became necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a survey done by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research1 during May of 2020, 42% of all U.S. workers worked from home and accounted for two-thirds of the nation’s gross domestic product. Therefore, work from home has become a feasible economic development strategy at the onset of COVID-19. This study gauges the contribution of workers from home in Indiana in 2021 by using the Regional Economic Modeling, Inc. (REMI) general equilibrium model. Results indicate that the roughly 222,000 workers from home in the state contributed to a little more than 493,000 jobs across more than 10 industries. In addition, these workers added close to $54 million to the state’s GDP that year. To fully maximize the impact of these workers, some strategies may include communities adapting work from home incentives, better and more affordable broadband, adequate facilities for workers from home (like co-working spaces), matching employers with workers from home, and offering work from home-related skills through training and certifications.

The conclusion…

Studies suggest that better broadband can lead to more workers from home, increased self-employment, and benefits for women and high-skilled workers3,4,5. With roughly 7% of workers aged 16 or older working from home in Indiana, the impacts of these workers are important. As discussed above, these workers added more than half a million jobs to the state in 2021 and increased the state’s population and labor force. However, work remains to be done to ensure that those who can work from home include a diverse group of individuals. And while ubiquitous, reliable, and affordable broadband networks are a critical element, it is not the only one. Creating a diverse pipeline of workers from home is also important to ensure a digital equitable landscape is leveraged. Some strategies may include communities adapting remote work incentives, better and more affordable broadband, adequate facilities to conduct remote work (like co-working spaces), matching employers with workers from home, and offering remote work-related skills through training and certifications.

I won’t dig as deep as Roberto did as his report looks at remote work, broadband access and many other characteristics of six regions in Indiana, but I figured what I could do is track remote workers and broadband access for each county in Minnesota. I am using the broadband access numbers from the County Profiles last year and worked from home numbers from the 2017-2021 American Community Survey (ACS table B08126).

For comparison, there are 607,924 remote workers in Minnesota. (The margin of error is 12,580.) That’s 21 percent. Here are the specifics: