Written by Michael Thervil
It’s been said that when it comes to geopolitics and the economy, “nothing happens in a vacuum”. What this means is that not only is everything affected by everything; but it also means that every variable is interdependent on every other variable within this global system of ours. The question of whether working remotely has an adverse effect on both the global and more specifically the U.S. economy is undeniable. Sure, there has been studies that promote the premise that employees seem to be more productive when they are allowed to work remotely, but the other thing that American leaders have seemed failed to realize is the broader and much more comprehensive idea that when employees work either remotely from home or in a hybrid fashion, it is the U.S. economy that suffers. Hence, when the U.S. economy suffers so does every U.S. citizen.
From the perspective of privatized business in America, lowering and in some cases eliminating the overhead of having to lease or buy a brick-and-mortar location to operate their business from sounds and looks extremely enticing – because it is. However, the opposite side of the equation is that when businesses aren’t leasing buildings and other physical structures to operate in, it’s the construction industry, manufacturers of all types, petrochemical industry, finance industries, and ultimately the employees themselves that suffer. It’s the proverbial snowball effect that many U.S. economists are either purposely failing to see or can’t understand. Remember nothing made from thin air is sustainable by itself; thus, there must be physical labor that leads to financial transactions that power that which was created out of thin air.
If you consider all of the moving parts it takes for people to physically get up and go to work every day, the financial incentive for both the U.S. and the global economy to operate far exceeds any privatized value that any employer could ever hold dear. From getting dressed which requires electricity. Getting into your car requires petrol (gas) and/or taking public transportation requires that other people get and burn electricity and invest financially in your local, state, national, and ultimately the global economic system. The food and beverage industry also benefits from breakfast, lunch, and snack purchases. Clothing retailers benefit because employees and bosses alike must purchase clothing and uniforms, and thus the textile industry and clothing manufacturers benefit in the end. The one industry that everyone depends on is the tech industry, because without tech, our world simply doesn’t run. There are literally an endless number of industries that benefit from people going to the office every day of the week.
Regardless of the passed covid policies or not and beyond the adverse social impacts of allowing employees to work remotely, there were always going to be some people that would be able to work remotely. This is especially true when you consider the nature of the computational, teleworking, and tech industries. However, the number of people who do work remotely would not be to the extent that it is today. It was reported by the Pew Research Center that “about a third of U.S. workers who can work from home now do so all the time”. While this may sound like a good thing, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good thing for the U.S. economy.
Keep in mind that it’s physical action, thus the physical act of people getting up and going to some office somewhere is what propels a nation’s economy forward. It is the interdependence of transactional movement (labor), which acts like a “financial glue” that holds a nation’s economy together. The more the U.S. workforce turns away from and rebels from this fact, the less productive and weaker the U.S. economy will become in the future.
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