Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
No, we are not all working from home
People have, on the whole, continued to go to work during the crisis — but the correct control measures to keep us safe have not been in place, says SOLOMON HUGHES

FOR the last three months, more people have been going to work as normal than working from home.

The Office for National Statistics have been trying to get a handle on what is actually happening due to coronavirus with their Opinions and Lifestyle survey: it is only a sample survey, based on 2,000 or so people, but it is fairly robust and until some stronger figures come along, the best source.

The survey shows that, as of August 9, 23 per cent of people with jobs are fully working from home: that is a massive change. But it is still a minority, because at the same time 48 per cent of people travelled to work normally. And 7 per cent of those in jobs both travelled to their regular workplace and worked from home.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
People search for gold at a mining site in Iga-Barriere,  Congo
Africa / 19 August 2026
19 August 2026

Poverty, refugee displacement, child labour and militia violence are exacerbating the challenge of health workers to limit this deadly contagious disease. CONSTANT SAME BAGALWA and MARK BANCHEREAU report 

Prime Minister Andy Burnham (centre) during a National Economic Council meeting at No 10 North, located in Heron House, central Manchester. Mr Burnham has said No 10 North is
Politics / 27 July 2026
27 July 2026

Burnham urged to create publicly-provided national care service before the end of the parliament, and to keep his promise to ditch neoliberalism

A general view of The Chat GPT website
Features / 3 April 2026
3 April 2026

MIKE SCOTT assesses the AI threat to jobs in the first of a pair of articles on the problems it poses

Business Secretary Peter Kyle, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on stage ahead of Reeves's keynote speech during the Labour Party Conference at the Liverpool Arena, September 29, 2025
Labour Party Conference 2025 / 30 September 2025
30 September 2025

Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE