Digital Nomadism is here to stay

This post is part of a 9-article series on the future of work from Emma Wanderer's perspective. Packed with insights and statistics, we give you a glimpse into our view of how we humans will shape and lead our working lives in the future.

Hypothesis 3:
Location-independent work-life habits and digital nomads are here to stay

Digital nomadism, a location-independent lifestyle, is rapidly gaining traction and becomes attractive to many - at least temporarily. The shift from traditional work to knowledge work, the possibilities of coworking and coliving, as well as the unprecedented campervan and motorhome boom are making location-independent lifestyles even more attractive.

The digital nomad lifestyle was often perceived as a rather unproductive working style for “not-as-committed”, unreliable people, or even dropouts; Cynics would say they were treated as second-class workers with quirky professions.

With a rising, post-pandemic social acceptance of remote work, digital nomadism is now moving further towards the social mainstream. There are around 7.3 million digital nomads in the USA in 2019. Within one year the number has propelled up to 10.9 million living a location-independent lifestyle.

Unfortunately, there are no reliable figures for Europe, only rough estimates. We assume that we will mirror the development observed in our American counterparts in a similar fashion. In the DACH region, full-time digital nomads will remain a minority within the wide range of remote work lifestyles. Nevertheless, digital nomadism will definitely be on the rise and is here to stay!

Back to the 8 hypotheses about the future of work

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