Hybrid working did not reduce economic divides, research finds

Remote working has not led to a reduction in the UK’s geographical economic divides, a report by the Resolution Foundation has found. The think tank’s Right Where You Left Me? report found that while the regional employment gap has reduced, the wholesale move to remote working caused by the pandemic has not helped to level out regional inequality. It said London was the “epicentre of the big shift towards remote working”, with prosperous areas including Richmond-upon-Thames and Bromley, as well as further afield in Rochford, Essex, among those that saw a net increase in workers – gaining more resident remote workers than they lost office workers.