This paper is published in Volume-12, Issue-5, 2026
Area
Economics
Author
Nevaan Vijayvergia
Org/Univ
Aditya Birla World Academy, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Keywords
Remote Work, Wage Differentials, Rosen's Compensating Differentials, Monopsony, Labour Market Power, Outside Options, Difference-in-Differences
Citations
IEEE
Nevaan Vijayvergia. Flexibility or Power? A Difference-in-Differences Test of the Remote Work Wage Discount, International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, www.IJARIIT.com.
APA
Nevaan Vijayvergia (2026). Flexibility or Power? A Difference-in-Differences Test of the Remote Work Wage Discount. International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, 12(5) www.IJARIIT.com.
MLA
Nevaan Vijayvergia. "Flexibility or Power? A Difference-in-Differences Test of the Remote Work Wage Discount." International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology 12.5 (2026). www.IJARIIT.com.
Nevaan Vijayvergia. Flexibility or Power? A Difference-in-Differences Test of the Remote Work Wage Discount, International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, www.IJARIIT.com.
APA
Nevaan Vijayvergia (2026). Flexibility or Power? A Difference-in-Differences Test of the Remote Work Wage Discount. International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, 12(5) www.IJARIIT.com.
MLA
Nevaan Vijayvergia. "Flexibility or Power? A Difference-in-Differences Test of the Remote Work Wage Discount." International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology 12.5 (2026). www.IJARIIT.com.
Abstract
Remote work has expanded substantially, giving workers greater flexibility while raising questions about whether differences in remote and on-site wages reflect workers' willingness to trade income for flexibility and how long such wage discounts last. The research question investigates if compensating differentials persist or whether the wage discount for remote work shrinks as remote job options in an occupation expand. A difference-in-differences framework was used to compare occupations experiencing relatively high and low growth in remote job opportunities. The analysis combines occupation-level remote job-posting data from WFH Map with wage data from the American Community Survey analysed by Pabilonia and Vernon. Occupational wage information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is also used to provide additional wage context. The high-expansion occupations experienced a 6.62 percentage-point increase in their remote wage differential compared with a 1.05 percentage-point increase in low-expansion occupations, producing a +5.57 percentage-point difference-in-differences estimate, indicating that the relative wage position of remote workers improved more strongly where remote employment opportunities expanded, providing partial support for the monopsony mechanism. The relatively limited period and data constraints mean that longer-term changes in the remote labour market may be needed to determine whether the wage discount predicted by the monopsony hypothesis becomes more evident over time.
