More than half of knowledge workers worldwide, 51%, are expected to be working remotely by the end of this year, up from 27% in 2019, according to Gartner Inc.
Knowledge workers are defined as those in knowledge-intensive occupations such as engineers, accountants and writers. Remote work is defined by Garter as an employee working away from their company, government or customer site for at least one full day per week.
The research firm also estimates that 32% of all employees worldwide will be working remotely by the end of this year, up from 17% in 2019.
Remote working varies considerably around the world depending on IT adoption, culture and mix of industries, according to Gartner. The US will lead in terms of remote workers in 2022, accounting for 53% of the US workforce, the research firm reported. Across Europe, UK remote workers will represent 52% of its workforce in 2022, while remote workers in Germany and France will account for 37% and 33%, respectively.
India and China will produce some of the largest numbers of remote workers, but their overall penetration rates will remain relatively low, with 30% of workers in India and 28% of workers in China working remotely, according to Gartner.