Remote Work May Be Responsible for Baby Bump

Americans have been having fewer babies in the past half century. In 2020, the U.S. reported that only 3.6 million babies were born, marking a 4% decline from the year before, with the lowest number of babies born since 1979. The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the fertility rate in the U.S. was about 56 births per 1,000 women — the lowest rate on record and about half of what it was in the early 1960s.

However, in 2021, despite gloom and doom predictions that the pandemic and the recession would result in even fewer American babies, a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research detected a baby bump, with 46,000 more births than expected.

According to The Atlantic, new research discovered that the pandemic, specifically the growth of remote work that it spawned, may be the cause of the baby boom. The study authors ─ economist Lyman Stone and demographer Adam Ozimek ─ found that without time-consuming commutes, remote workers, particularly those living with children, were able to spend more time on childcare and housework. This increased flexibility helped boost birth rates over the pandemic, especially for wealthier and more educated women.

For the study, the researchers examined data on 3,000 American women from the Demographic Intelligence Family Survey. They found that not only were rich and educated remote working women more likely to have a baby than office workers, they were also more likely to marry.

Another reason that the pandemic generated an increase in birth rate is that forming families has become easier, with workers able to spend more time at home. In addition, people no longer have to live within commuting distance of their job. So, it’s easier to start and grow a family with the increased flexibility.

Research has shown that the past decline in fertility rates was not necessarily about choice. American women have reported having fewer kids than they want. Remote work is “subtly restructuring the contours of life to enable more women to have the families they want,” says Derek Thompson, of The Atlantic.

Thompson points out that remote work isn’t the only answer to declining fertility rates and says that the study results are not overwhelming and are concentrated among a minority of the U.S. population. While remote work has caused its share of problems, such as half-empty office buildings and higher housing prices, there may be a surprising upside.

“For some families, it might be something perfect and unexpected,” wrote Thompson. “The soft tailwind behind another stork.”