Remote job opportunities are dwindling as fewer employers feel the need to lure talent with the promise of working from home

By Ray A. Smith Jan. 24, 2023 2:52 pm ET

Many prospective workers who were determined to get a remote job just a few months ago are hitting a wall as remote listings rapidly dwindle.

After remote work surged during the pandemic, fewer employers now feel the need to lure talent with the promise of working from home. Remote jobs made up 13.2% of postings advertised on LinkedIn last month—down from 20.6% in March. Other job sites such as Indeed.com and ZipRecruiter also report declines in remote listings.

Demand for these jobs remains high. Remote jobs attracted a majority, or 52.8%, of all applications submitted on LinkedIn, slightly higher than a year before.

The decline in remote listings marks the latest shift in the power dynamic between employers and employees. Companies are showing they can be choosier in their recruiting after months of scrambling for new talent. Hiring and wage growth have slowed from the red-hot pace of much of 2022. And while many laid-off workers in tech and elsewhere are finding employment again, it is taking, on average.

This has some workers recalibrating their conditions for considering a new job.

Brett Burger, 29 years old, worked from home full-time as a public-relations specialist for Sleep Number Corp. until he was laid off from the Minneapolis-based bed manufacturer this month.

Now, he says, he is finding far fewer job postings clearly stating they are remote than when he was job-hunting in 2020. He discovered he was more productive and better able to manage his depression and anxiety while working from home these past couple of years, he says.