New research from the C.D. Howe Institute, Settling into a New Normal? Working from Home across Canada, notes that the number of work-from-home arrangements in Canada is on the decline from the days when public health measures mandated them, but that Canadians have settled into a “new normal” where roughly one-quarter work from home. In the finance and insurance industries, that number jumps to 65 per cent.  

“At the end of 2023, 26 per cent of paid employees across Canada spent at least part of their week working from home, down from 42 per cent in the spring of 2020. There are substantial differences across Canada in work-from-home arrangements,” they write. “With the expectation that work-from-home arrangements will continue, policymakers will need to ensure the laws and regulations that frame relationships between employers and employees are suitable to the range of work-from-home arrangements that prevail in local labour markets.” 

Comparatively speaking, in 1991, six per cent of employees worked from home, nine per cent worked from home in 1995 and 7.1 per cent worked from home in 2016. At the end of 2023 26.9 per cent of workers in the public sector had work-from-home arrangements. In the private sector this drops to 24.2 per cent.  

Regional differences 

The report looks at regional differences in the number of employees working from home, factors underlying regional differences and at industries and occupations most and least likely to have work-from-home arrangements. They say studies undertaken previously suggest that most jobs in finance, insurance, educational services, professional, scientific and technical services – 84 per cent of them – could be done at home. Industries such as accommodation and food services, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting had almost no teleworking capacity.  

They add that there is a strong relationship between the feasibility of work-from-home arrangements and educational attainment.