The ability to work from home can be critical during pandemics. We calculate an index that measures the possibility of working from home based on the characteristics of the pre-Covid-19 pandemic distribution of occupations and on internet access at home, using microdata for Mexico. Focusing on households with two partners employed in nonessential occupations, we show that there is high within-household correlation in the possibility of working remotely, which is likely to be positively associated with job stability during the pandemic. Poor families, with low access to formal credit and who rely heavily on informal mechanisms for consumption smoothing have lower chances of working remotely than richer families with higher access to formal credit. High within-household correlation in the work-from-home index restricts the likelihood of intra-household risk-sharing and consumption smoothing, and is likely to contribute to an increase in inequality.

在大流行期间，在家工作的能力至关重要。我们使用墨西哥的微数据，根据 Covid-19 大流行之前的职业分布特征和在家上网的情况，计算了一个衡量在家工作可能性的指数。关注有两个伴侣从事非必要职业的家庭，我们表明，远程工作的可能性在家庭内部具有很高的相关性，这可能与大流行期间的工作稳定性呈正相关。与获得正规信贷的富裕家庭相比，获得正式信贷机会少且严重依赖非正式机制来平滑消费的贫困家庭远程工作的机会更低。