Working from home and mental health: Evidence from the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sammanfattning: As the Coronavirus started to spread around the world in 2020, governments had to respond. Lockdowns and other restrictions were implemented to minimize the virus spread and people falling ill from COVID-19. In the United Kingdom, a lockdown was enforced from March to June 2020 whereafter restrictions eased, even though social distancing and other measurement still remained. There have been great concerns of increased loneliness among people due to increased isolation as a consequence of the COVID-19 response. Additionally, a large share of the workforce has had to adjust to work from home, which entails other challenges. This thesis aimed to study whether working from home is associated with a higher probability of feeling lonely during the pandemic, in a sample of middle-aged citizens living in the UK. The analysis shows no significant relationship between working from home and feeling lonely during thepandemic. Not working however, is found associated with feeling lonely, meanwhile prior mental wellbeing and household size show no relationship to feeling lonely.