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Working from home and mental health: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

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  • Bilgrami, Anam

Abstract

Robust evidence on working from home and mental health is lacking, with recent concerns it may blur work-home boundaries. Working from home was discretionary and less intensive in pre-pandemic years, while during the pandemic, it was often intensive and 'mandated'. I estimate the relationship between working from home and mental health via fixed-effects and instrumental variable (IV) estimation. I find no evidence that working from home harmed mental health, on average, pre-pandemic, with IV estimates suggesting potentially improved health. Conversely, working from home may have deteriorated mental health during the pandemic, potentially due its 'forced', intensive nature during this time.

Suggested Citation

  • Bilgrami, Anam, 2023. "Working from home and mental health: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1265, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1265
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mental health; working from home; worker wellbeing; instrumental variable;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D00 - Microeconomics - - General - - - General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

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