Americans fear rising cost of working from home as pandemic continues – By Allison Mina Park and Suzanne Ciechalski (NBC News) / Oct 25 2020
“It’s not everything that we thought it would be. A lot of that comes down to additional expenses that we just didn’t see,” one working parent said.
For Marie Clara-Cantillo’s family, staying home during the coronavirus pandemic brought an increase in monthly expenses her family could have never predicted.
Clara-Cantillo, a patient educator with a pharmaceutical company in New York who’s always worked from home, said her usual routine has been upended by skyrocketing utility bills, dozens more meals to cook for her three children, and exorbitant child care costs.
“Since March, our gas and electric bill has really increased … Because every computer is on, every television is on, all of the lights are on and chasing after kids to shut off the lights,” she said.
Nearly half of the American workforce recently entered their seventh straight month of working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic. As of June, 42 percent of American workers were working from home, while 26 percent of workers were reporting to work in person, according to Stanford University.
“Working from home has ups and downsides on costs,” Stanford University economist Nicholas Bloom told NBC News. “Of course, you do have to pay more water and you do have to pay more electricity … On the other hand, you have to set that against you’ve saved a lot of money on commuting.”
Continue to article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/americans-fear-rising-cost-working-home-pandemic-continues-n1242676
