Working from home might be the most effective way to get people to actually have kids in the modern world.
SSRN · March 18, 2026 · 6425015
The Takeaway
While many worry that remote work blurs work-life boundaries, this study finds that WFH is associated with an increase of 0.32 children per woman. In a world of collapsing birth rates, the flexibility of remote work appears to be doing what government subsidies have failed to do: making people feel they can actually afford to have children.
From the abstract
We investigate how fertility relates to work from home (WFH) in the post-pandemic era, drawing on original data from our Global Survey of Working Arrangements and U.S. Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes. Realized fertility from 2023 to 2025 and future planned fertility are higher among adults who WFH at least one day a week and, for couples, higher yet when both partners do so. Estimated lifetime fertility is greater by 0.32 children per woman when both partners WFH one or more days pe