“Remote work won’t save the heartland”

Enabled by more available remote work options, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred both employees and employers to flee cities in favor of more rural locations. Yet a new post from Brookings finds that rather than redistributing economic opportunity evenly nationwide, most companies are simply relocating to secondary tech hub cities like Austin, Denver, and Nashville, rather than to rural communities of the heartland. The post suggests that for rural places to meaningfully benefit from the “new” work landscape, the focus should be on building skilled and diverse workforces and work opportunities in authentic and expanding sectors, supported by robust policy and infrastructure investments that can support workers and their families. #covid-19 #workforce #rural