WASHINGTON — A major new study has linked the widespread adoption of remote work to increased social isolation and declining mental health among U.S. workers, particularly those living alone.
The research, published in the journal Science on June 4, analyzed data from five nationally representative surveys involving more than 588,000 American workers from 2011 to 2024, excluding the peak COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. Researchers Natalia Emanuel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Emma Harrington of the University of Virginia, and Amanda Pallais of Harvard University employed a difference-in-differences approach, comparing workers in occupations amenable to remote work with those in roles requiring on-site presence.
Workers in remotable jobs, such as software engineering and marketing, experienced a sharp rise in time spent alone after the pandemic. They spent approximately one additional waking hour alone per workday and were more likely to spend entire days without human contact. On a typical post-pandemic workday, about 84% of remote workers spent their entire day working alone, compared with 23% of on-site workers, according to the study.
The isolation effects were most pronounced among those living alone, whose likelihood of spending a full day with no social contact increased by 83%. These workers also showed significantly higher increases in mental distress, as measured by the Kessler K-6 psychological distress scale, along with greater use of mental health services and antidepressant prescriptions.
The authors estimate that the expansion of remote work accounts for roughly one-third of the overall rise in isolation and mental distress observed between 2011–2019 and 2022–2024. Mental distress scores rose by about 0.1 standard deviations for workers in remotable jobs relative to others, with effects roughly twice as large for those living alone.
"Although a large body of research finds that workers want to work remotely, our findings suggest that workers may not realize the costs of remote work for their well-being, which may take time to accumulate," the researchers wrote in the study.
A separate study using 2024 Household Pulse Survey data, published earlier this year, found that employees working remotely three or more days per week had higher adjusted odds of reporting greater loneliness compared with those who never worked remotely.
The findings arrive as remote and hybrid arrangements remain common. Proponents of remote work often cite improved work-life balance and reduced commuting stress, but experts note the trade-offs in social connection. Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, who was not involved in the Science study, said the results highlight important costs even as they do not imply that all offices should mandate full in-person work.
The researchers cautioned that their analysis focused on population-level shifts tied to occupational changes rather than individual choices. They found no similar deterioration in mental health for workers recently but no longer employed in remotable jobs, supporting the role of current work arrangements.
As companies and policymakers continue to shape post-pandemic workplace norms, the study underscores the need for strategies to mitigate isolation, such as coordinated in-office days for hybrid teams or efforts to foster informal interactions. No immediate policy responses to the study were announced by major U.S. labor or health agencies as of Tuesday.
