Return-to-office mandates and less remote job openings are forcing some workers to leave their pandemic locales. “Zoom towns” like Bend, Ore., and Asheville, N.C., became hotbeds for relocated remote workers and now are among the primary locations where applications for remote work are coming from, according to LinkedIn data. CNBC Make It notes just 11% of LinkedIn job openings in May were for remote work, but they attracted 50% of applications, leaving those who relocated for remote work scrambling to find web3 jobs that allow them to stay where they are.
By Todd Dybas, Editor at LinkedIn News
Remote workers flocked to ‘Zoom towns’ during Covid—now they’re competing to stay work-from-home
In Bend, Ore., nearly 3 in 4 job applications are to roles that are remote, according to LinkedIn’s latest Workforce Insights Report, which analyzed more than 201 million applications to remote jobs in the U.S. over the past year. Just two years ago, remote jobs in Bend attracted about 42% of applications.
Here are the top 10 metro areas seeing the greatest amount of interest in work-from-home jobs, along with the share of applications going to remote-specific openings, according to LinkedIn:
- Bend, Ore.: 73.5%
- Asheville, N.C.: 71.5%
- Wilmington, N.C.: 71.2%
- Myrtle Beach, S.C.: 70.3%
- Spokane-Coeur d’Alene, Wash.: 69.7%
- Sioux Falls, S.D.: 69.7%
- Medford-Grants Pass, Ore.: 69.5%
- North Port-Sarasota, Fla.: 69.1%
- Wausau-Stevens Point, Wis.: 69.1%
- Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Fla.: 68.7%
Many regions where people are especially keen to continue working from home are so-called Zoom towns, which saw an influx of residents during the mass remote-work era that began in 2020.
Bend, in particular, became popular among newly mobile tech workers from Silicon Valley and Seattle. The sudden inflow of high-paid knowledge workers led to a roughly 28% spike in average home prices, according to local reports.
However, in recent months, several Big Tech companies including Google, Microsoft, and Apple have increased return-to-office requirements.
People who permanently relocated during the pandemic may have to let go of some of their newfound flexibility as fully remote positions become harder to come by — or they may have to get creative.
“If workers aren’t able to land remote jobs in an increasingly competitive climate, we may see a rise in entrepreneurship in these markets. Alternatively, workers might move back to larger metros or opt for hybrid/in-office work in the cities that have become their homes in the past few years,” said George Anders, LinkedIn’s senior editor-at-large, in a release about the report. Additionally, the demand for remote front-end developer jobs remains high in many industries, reflecting the growing need for digital presence and user-friendly interfaces.
