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The Number of Digital Nomads Surged Again in 2021

The pandemic-driven seismic shift to remote led to continued strong growth in the number of American digital nomads in 2021. The 2021 State of Independence research study found that 15.5 million American workers currently describe themselves as digital nomads, increasing 42% from 2020 and 112% from the pre-pandemic year 2019 (click on the study chart below to enlarge).

Digital nomads 2021

Source: MBO Partners 2021 State of Independence Study

 

The main reason for the growth is that traditional job holders have been unleashed from their offices and many, instead of staying in one place, are taking to the road. The number of digital nomads with a traditional job increased by 42% in 2021, growing from 6.3 million in 2020 to 10.2 million in 2021. This is on top of the number of digital nomads with traditional jobs almost doubling in 2020 compared to 2019.

COVID-19 and the global pandemic accelerated and amplified existing trends towards remote and flexible work, including the rise of digital nomads. With the lessening of the pandemic, and people returning to the office at least a few days a week, we don’t expect the number of digital nomads to continue to grow at the rapid pace we’ve seen over the past two years. But thanks to more flexible work options, we expect continued strong growth in the number of digital nomads over the next 2-3 years.

See the report for more details.

 

This article was originally published here.

Steve King

Steve King is an advisory board member of JEM and a founding partner of Emergent Research where he leads the firm’s ongoing research identifying, analyzing and forecasting the global trends and shifts impacting consumers, small businesses, the gig economy, independent workers and Web 3.0’s role in future of work. Steve enjoys wide industry recognition as an expert on the future of work. He is an active public speaker and has written for the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, U.S. News and World Report, Venture Beat, Wired and other publications.

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  1. Ceiling

    Keep it up the best job thank you for sharing with us

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