Boston's downtown at risk as workers stay remote

AMERICA IS DOTTED with remnants of economies of the past. Think gold rush towns, factory cities, rail towns, and coal towns, to name a few. All served their purpose, and either evolved into something else, or slowly collapsed.

Now, the durability of remote and hybrid work poses an increasingly grave threat to Boston and other downtown areas. With COVID infection rates plummeting and more and more offices open, remote workers could come back now if they wanted to. But surveys consistently show a large swath of remote workers are just not interested in returning, particularly not full time. A new Pew survey finds the majority (59 percent) of workers who say their jobs can be done remotely are working from home most or all of the time.

Downtown economies are built around massive daily inflows of workers. That flow slowed dramatically when COVID began, and remains far below pre-pandemic levels. Boston will need to find another way to fill vast empty spaces in the hulking monuments to an economy that no longer exists.

It’s not just surveys that highlight the risk. We also have real world experience to point to. Remote workers didn’t come flooding back to Boston at any of the moments when they could have. They didn’t return in that blissful period after the vaccine rolled out but before the Delta variant hit. They haven’t come back as Omicron has faded, or not in large numbers anyway.

Read more: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/news-analysis/bostons-downtown-at-risk-as-workers-stay-remote/