Tsuru Kotaro, Program Director and Faculty Fellow, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) Despite the progress in vaccination, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on. Following the issuance of the fourth declaration of a state of emergency, the government has frequently called for companies to reduce the number of commuting workers by 70%, but there has been little progress in the effort to reduce the flow of commuters. Looking back at the pre-pandemic status of teleworking arrangements, including working from home, although large and listed firms were accelerating the teleworking schemes, the number of people actually working from home continued to be low. Under the COVID-19 crisis, particularly since the issuance of the first declaration of a state of emergency in April 2020, the percentage of employees working from home (telework rate) has risen rapidly (see Figure 1). According to various ... ... [Read more]