Philadelphia's office occupancy well below pre-pandemic levels

Philadelphia's office occupancy levels are at 37.9%, almost 2 percentage points below the national average.

Between the lines: It's a significant improvement compared to late January, when levels dipped to around 20% during a surge in COVID-19 cases driven in part by the Omicron variant.

• But it's still nowhere near a return to pre-pandemic levels in February 2020, before the shutdowns and the rise of remote work.

The big picture: The threat of COVID-19 may fade, but the days of most office workers going to a physical space for five-day, 40-hour weeks is over, writes Axios' Erica Pandey.

• 17% of workers say they're teleworking because they moved away, per a Pew study published last month.
• Workers want more flexibility. Half of workers said they'd rather quit than return to work full-time, according to a recent survey from Robert Half, a global human resource consulting firm.

What to watch: The office space industry in Philly is still playing catch-up.

• Demand for office space here lags behind almost all of the top 12 U.S. office markets, compared to pre-pandemic levels.