BERLIN, (Reuters) – The German population working at home in April fell slightly, according to a Monday survey. This is despite lifting remote-working regulations that were put into place to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to The Ifo, 24.9 percent of German employees used the internet at home in April according to a survey of 9,000 businesses. This is compared to 27.6% last month.

Jean-Victor Alipour (an expert in Ifo on working remotely) stated that this means people can continue to work from their homes.

He said, “Evidently many companies have permanent adapted to flexible working arrangements.”

Ifo stated that remote-working is still very popular in the service industry, with 35.3% working from home in April.

According to the report, Germany’s auto industry experienced a sharp decline. It fell from 28.4% in April to 17.8%. Manufacturing overall saw a slight decrease to 16.3% from 18.6%.