Dupage Policy Journal

The global market for coworking space likely will continue its current growth amidst social distancing and remote working, growth that started before anyone heard of COVID-19, according to an industry report issued last spring.

The change has been obvious as the pandemic has driven companies in new directions, says Frank Cecala, vice president of lending with CrossCountry Mortgage and a member of the suburban Chicago coworking establishment Enclave. Unlike traditional offices, coworking space is shared by employees of different companies with an eye toward cutting costs through shared infrastructure.

CrossCountry Mortgage Lending Vice President Frank Cecala | linkedin.com/in/frank-cecala-b020b314/

"I can't speak for all employers, but for the most part I feel if COVID taught us anything workforce-related, it's that numerous jobs can be done from a remote work setting," Cecala told DuPage Policy Journal.

In June, Research and Markets announced its report "Co-working Space Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Growth and Change to 2030" that found the global market for coworking space has seen huge gains over the past two years.

The global market is expected to jump from $7.97 billion during the first COVID year of 2020 to $8.14 billion this year, a compound annual growth rate of 2.1%, according to the report's summary.

The growth is due mostly to the companies resuming their operations but also recognizing "the new normal" of at-home and remote work while recovering from the negative financial impacts of COVID-19. Earlier in the pandemic, restrictive containment measures that included social distancing and remote working became the norm, and various operational challenges were the result.

The global coworking market is expected to reach $13.03 billion in 2025, an annual growth rate of 12%, according to the Research and Markets report.

But the new normal of coworking is not entirely COVID-19 related. The flexible workspace news outlet Allwork reported in March 2019, well before coronavirus slammed into the world's economy, that about 32,000 flexible workspace locations already were operating worldwide. The global market value of those workspaces then was about $26 billion.

In April of last year, Business 2 Community reported that remote working had grown 44% in the previous five years in the U.S. alone and engaged seven million people before the pandemic.