PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon is one of the top places for remote work, according to a study done by IT service management company SysAid.
The study used data from the most recent American Community Survey for 938 micropolitan and metropolitan areas in the U.S. between 2015 and 2020, for civilian workers 16 and up. On average, 5.35% of jobs in US cities were remote.
In comparison to the five-year period just before the pandemic, 23.84% more people transitioned to working remotely. This is five times more than the earlier period.
Falling just behind the top two — D.C. and Colorado — Oregon has 9.4% remote workers.
Brookings and Bend were the two cities in Oregon amongst the top 30 metropolitan and micropolitan areas in the nation with the highest rates of people working from home, with 14.5% and 12.9% respectively.
SysAid also reported that although 10.6% of the jobs in industries like agriculture, mining and construction require mostly on-site work, 70.2% could partially be done from home. Furthermore, the report stated 19.2% of industries, such as information, professional, scientific, etc., could conduct more remote work.
“Industries such as finance, insurance and most professional consulting could easily adopt a remote work model with the right IT system in place,” a spokesperson from SysAid said. “Even industries like manufacturing can automate chain supply processes more efficiently, for example, so that more employees can manage tasks from any computer.”