(CITY JOURNAL) -- With the rapid spread of Covid-19, working from home is having a moment. With most major cities now under stay-at-home orders and nonessential businesses closing down across the country, millions of Americans are working remotely for the first time. Will it stick?
Indeed, even before the coronavirus and self-quarantining, more and more Americans have been running businesses from home. According to recent research, the number of home-based businesses nearly doubled between 1992 and 2012, constituting one in six businesses by 2014. Evidence from this period indicates that such businesses are more likely to be run by people otherwise excluded from conventional work: single parents, the disabled, the unemployed, and caregivers, among others.
The steady rise of home-based businesses has clearly escalated in recent years. Pull up Google Maps for any suburban neighborhood and see for yourself. In one neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky, for example, notification bubbles rise above a half-dozen single-family homes for businesses such as African hair-braiding, artisanal candle-making, and software development.