Mobile Impact on Labour Productivity Measured

People work less if they can’t telework.

People that may otherwise have problems participating in the workforce are turning to mobile technology to overcome barriers, new research shows.

The research - Mobile nation: Driving workforce participation and productivity - was commissioned by the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) and conducted by Deloitte Access Economics.

It used a survey of 800 mobile users to try to measure how the technology enabled users to participate in the labour force.

Those users came from demographics including “part-time workers, carers, individuals with a disability, parents of young children, young people, individuals living in rural or remote areas, and those who are considering retirement.”

These demographics were seen by the study’s authors as being open to technologies that helped them participate more in the workforce.

“Mobile enables people to work remotely, or meet their personal commitments while at work,” the study said.

“It can also reduce the costs and frictions associated with finding a new job”.

The study in particular sought to quantify just how many extra hours may be worked by users “because of the ability mobile [technology provides to work remotely and/or meet personal commitments while at work.”

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