The number of people working from home in East Lothian has trebled in the last ten years with one in three employed adults no longer travelling into an office.
A new report has revealed that while eleven per cent of employees were working from home in 2014 the number rose to 31 per cent by 2022 when the most recent statistics were gathered.
And it showed there had been a leap in the number of residents in the county who walk up to five times a week while the number driving every day has fallen.
The East Lothian By Numbers report reveals the impact of the pandemic on households across the county and changes to people’s daily lives.
It reveals that the number of people now travelling by car every day in East Lothian has fallen from 48 per cent to 40 per cent since 2014 although it still remains above the national average which is around 34 per cent.
However the number of cars registered in the county has increased by 19 per cent – higher than the national average increase of 11 per cent.
When it came to walking as a mode of transport over a third of people (36 per cent) in East Lothian said they did it three to five times a week – up from 20 per cent in 2014 and well above the national average which remained at around 27 per cent.
The report compared the results in East Lothian to neighbouring Midlothian and West Lothian council areas as well as the national average.
It said among its main findings were that 49 per cent of residents from East Lothian still drive as their main mode of travel compared to 55 per cent nationally while three out of four residents walked at least once a week.
It said: “The proportion of people working from home in East Lothian has increased from 11 per cent in 2014 to 31 per cent in 2022.”
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
