40M employees expected to work remotely by 2026 – Upwork
About 40.7 million employees are forecasted to work remotely in the United States by 2026, signaling a permanent shift in the office environment, according to a report by online freelance company Upwork Inc.
The survey, conducted with over 1,000 hiring managers as participants, showed that 28% of respondents are expecting full-remote working conditions in a post-pandemic society.
Because of this, more than half of the managers stated that remote working raised their willingness to recruit freelancers in their operations.
Upwork Chief Economist Adam Ozime noted that the current report proves that remote working allowed businesses to “collaborate with those outside the firm with greater ease.”
In line with this, Statista’s data said that the pandemic has accelerated a shift to freelancing, with freelancers expected to make up for 50% of the total workforce to 86.5 million by 2027.
