Remote Working and Mental Health During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

We use longitudinal data from the SHARE survey to estimate the causal effect of remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of senior Europeans. We face endogeneity concerns both for the probability of being employed during the pandemic and for the choice of different work arrangements conditional on employment. Our research design overcomes these issues by exploiting variation in the technical feasibility of remote working across occupations and in the legal restrictions to in-presence work across sectors. We estimate that remote working increases the probability of reporting feelings of sadness and depression. This effect is larger for women, respondents with children at home and singles, as well as in regions with low restrictions and low excess death rates due to the pandemic. Our results warn policy makers about the potential negative consequences of remote working for mental health in the post-pandemic situation