Jobs offering the chance to work from home boomed in Germany during the pandemic, but have continued to grow even afterwards, according to an analysis by the Bertelsmann Foundation released on Wednesday.
The proportion of online job advertisements with the option to work from home has increased fivefold since 2019, according to the report.
Before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, working from home played almost no role in German work culture.
In 2019, only 3.7% of all online job advertisements offered the option of working from home. By 2022, this figure had risen to 16.8% and, according to the study, is now included in 17.6% of online job listings examined by the researchers.
The report found that the growth trend, which has continued even after the end of the pandemic, varies by region and industry. According to the report, the western German city of Dusseldorf is the "German home office capital."
The IT sector is particularly open to working from home, according to the report, with the option almost standard in job postings.
Foreign language teachers were even more likely to be offered work from home options at 72%, which is presumably due to the many virtual courses on offer.
At the bottom end of the scale in 2023 are professions in the skilled trades and geriatric care - hardly surprising, as there is practically no alternative to working on-site in those fields.
The foundation analysed a total of 55 million online job advertisements. The analysis shows what companies are advertising, but did not evaluate how often employees actually work from home.
"Working from home has not only become established in many industries. It is becoming an important argument in the battle for skilled workers," said labour market expert Gunvald Herdin from the Bertelsmann Foundation.