The end of the office prison: how post-COVID work is changing the economy

Back in the 19th century, workers complained about the painful stay in the office.

“You can’t even imagine how tiresome it is to breathe the air, being locked up within four walls, day after day, without respite,” wrote the British essayist Charles Lamb in an 1822 letter to the poet William Wordsworth, scolding his work in the office of the British East India companies in Leadenhall Street, London.

For the past 17 months, Lamb's modern followers have largely worked from home, freed from what the writer called "official imprisonment." Today's white-collar workers are undergoing a period of radical transformation in their professional lives. Economists say that the new realities have already given impetus to the development of the economy and innovation.

The pandemic has reduced the attractiveness of the central regions of the metropolises. Now new forces are transforming the knowledge-based economy. The number of trips to cities by public transport has decreased, as has the revenue of coffee houses. But sales of real estate in the green suburbs rushed up. Americans have been spending more time on leisure and activity inside the home in 2020 — life on the road to the office has been replaced by real life.

And while larger, more permanent changes in working life could hurt urban businesses, economists are already talking about changes that could revitalize small towns and suburbs. The emergence of new digital tools means that the retail and hospitality industry (just like the knowledge-intensive industries) is already going through a period of major changes.