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New Findings

Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Natalia Emanuel, Emma Harrington, and Amanda Pallais

June 2026

Remote work has quadrupled in the half-decade since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there is a burgeoning literature examining remote work’s impact on workers’ productivity, less research considers its impact on workers’ well-being. We used differential changes in remote work across different occupations to assess remote work’s impact on isolation and mental health.