Return to Office Quicker in Europe and Asia than U.S.

In Europe and Asia, the return to the office is more solid than in the U.S., reports The Wall Street Journal.

“Americans have embraced remote work and turned their backs on offices with greater regularity than their counterparts overseas. U.S. office occupancy stands at 40% to 60% of prepandemic levels, varying within that range by month and by city. That compares with a 70%-to-90% rate in Europe and the Middle East, according to JLL, a property-services firm that manages 4.6 billion square feet of real estate globally. Return to office was even more common in Asia, JLL said, where rates ranged from 80% to 110%—meaning that in some cities more people are in the office nowadays than before the pandemic,” according to the article. 

Reasons that the U.S. lags behind may include larger homes, longer commutes, and a tight labor market that gives employees greater leverage, the WSJ reported.