IDC: Mobile Workers to Become the Majority

According to a new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC), the U.S. mobile worker population will grow at a steady rate over the next four years, increasing from 78.5 million in 2020 to 93.5 million mobile workers in 2024. By the end of the forecast period, IDC expects mobile workers will account for nearly 60% of the total U.S. workforce.

“COVID-19’s disruption of the U.S. labor force has had a dramatic impact on how large businesses operate and will continue to shape how and where people work in the months to come,” said Bryan Bassett, senior research analyst, IDC’s Enterprise Mobility: Deployment Strategies program. “The ability to quickly mobilize different segments of a company’s workforce with capable and secure mobile solutions has never been more important, and U.S. organizations are signaling that investment in mobile-based management and security solutions will take precedence in 2020 and beyond.”

The IDC study entitled, “U.S. Mobile Worker Population Forecast, 2020–2024,” forecasts the U.S. mobile worker population by segment across 16 industry verticals and analyzes trends and drivers in mobility, tracking segment population growth across major industry verticals as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This five-year forecast includes the impact of COVID-19 on all markets according to the most recent macroeconomic inputs from the last week of July 2020.

IDC defines mobile workers as workers who are enabled with mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) by their company to complete their assigned tasks and workflows.

A recent IDC survey found that 87% of U.S. enterprises expect their employees to continue working from home three or more days per week once mandatory closures are lifted, and 90% of enterprises think it is likely more of their workers will work from home in the future.

“To meet the needs of more mobile, remote, and work-from-home workers, U.S. enterprises have indicated that mobile security and mobile management solutions will be top spending priorities going forward to keep both information and frontline workers productive and secure in decentralized working environments,” added Bassett.

Channel Impact^®
The data demonstrate the need for channel partners to remain in tune with the needs of their customers and leverage Information Technology to keep those companies competitive and profitable as the situation evolves.