Europe & Asian Workers Return to Office at Higher Rate Than Americans

New York, NY, February 28, 2023-"While U.S. offices are half empty three years into the Covid-19 pandemic, workplaces in Europe and Asia are bustling again,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

“Americans have embraced remote work and turned their backs on offices with greater regularity than their counterparts overseas. U.S. office occupancy stands at 40% to 60% of prepandemic levels, varying within that range by month and by city. That compares with a 70%-to-90% rate in Europe and the Middle East, according to JLL, a property-services firm that manages 4.6 billion square feet of real estate globally. 

“Return to office was even more common in Asia, JLL said, where rates ranged from 80% to 110%-meaning that in some cities more people are in the office nowadays than before the pandemic.

“Bigger homes, longer commutes and a tighter labor market help explain why Americans spend less time in the office than Europeans and Asians, workplace consultants say. 

“This divergence in return-to-office habits not only benefits overseas landlords more than their U.S. peers. It has a direct impact on how quickly metro areas rebound from the pandemic’s economic shock. Cities in Europe and Asia have bounced back relatively well. But empty office buildings and missing commuters have undermined recoveries in U.S. cities such as New York and San Francisco, where local restaurants, shops and other businesses that rely on office workers as their primary customers have suffered.”