Work At Home In 2001

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378      USDL 02-107
               http://www.bls.gov/cps/
                                            For release:  10:00 A.M. EST
Media contact:                691-5902      Friday, March 1, 2002

                           
                           WORK AT HOME IN 2001


   In May 2001, 19.8 million persons usually did some work at home as part
of their primary job, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department
of Labor reported today.  These workers, who reported working at home at
least once per week, accounted for 15 percent of total employment.
   
   These findings are from a special supplement to the May 2001 Current
Population Survey (CPS).  The CPS is a monthly survey of households
conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Data on work at home were last collected in the CPS in May 1997; however,
due to changes in the questions asked, much of the data for May 2001 is not
comparable with the May 1997 data.  Additional information about the May
2001 survey, including a discussion of data comparability with the May 1997
survey, is provided in the Technical Note.  Highlights from the 2001 data
include:

  --Half of those who usually worked at home were wage and salary workers
    who took work home from the job on an unpaid basis.  Another 17 percent 
    had a formal arrangement with their employer to be paid for the work they 
    did at home.  The remainder who worked at home--30 percent--were self-
    employed.

  --Wage and salary workers who were expressly paid to work at home worked
    there 18 hours per week on average; those who were just taking work home
    from the job usually worked about 7 hours per week at home.

  --Four-fifths of those who regularly worked at home were employed in
    managerial, professional, and sales jobs.

  --About 8 people in 10 used a computer for the work they did at home,
    and about 6 in 10 made use of Internet or e-mail access.

  --Two-thirds of those who usually work at home reported that they did so
    because they need to "finish or catch up on work" or because it is the
    "nature of the job."

Pay Status

   Of the 13.9 million wage and salary workers who usually did some work
at home in 2001, about 3.4 million had a formal arrangement with their
employer to be paid for the time they put in at home.  Nearly half of these
paid home workers spent 8 hours or more per week working at home, and about
1 in 6 put in 35 hours or more at home.  On average, those expressly paid
for their work time at home logged 18 hours per week at home.  (See tables
3 and 5.)
                                  
   The vast majority of wage and salary workers who do some job-related
work at home on a regular basis do so without a formal arrangement to be
paid for this work.  Of the 10.3 million workers just taking work home from
the job, fewer than 1 in 4 regularly worked 8 hours or more per week at
home.  Workers doing unpaid job-related activity at home averaged about 
7 hours per week.  (See table 4.)

                                  - 2 -

Occupation and Industry

   Regardless of whether or not there was a formal arrangement to be paid
for the work done at home, most home workers were employed in managerial,
professional, and sales occupations.  Among those paid to work at home,
about half worked in managerial and professional specialty jobs, and
another 1 in 5 worked in sales occupations.  (See tables 1 and 3.)
   
   Managers and professionals accounted for a higher proportion (about
three-fourths) of those just taking work home from the job.  Schoolteachers
(excluding college) especially were likely to do unpaid work at home, with
2.7 million--or almost half of all teachers--reporting such activity in 2001.
Another 1.3 million persons who put in time at home without an explicit pay
arrangement worked in sales jobs.  (See table 4.)
   
   From an industry perspective, workers employed in the services
industries (such as business services, educational services, and other
professional services) were among the most likely to usually work at home
in 2001.  Overall, about 1 out of every 5 workers in services usually did
some work at home, similar to the proportions in finance, insurance, and
real estate and wholesale trade.  Among those paid to work at home, almost
half were employed in services (1.6 million); for those doing unpaid work
at home, about three-fifths worked in the services industry (6.3 million).
(See tables 1, 3, and 4.)

Demographics

   Women and men were about equally likely to do some job-related work at
home in 2001.  Whites were more than twice as likely as blacks and Hispanics 
to work at home, reflecting, at least in part, their relatively higher 
concentration in managerial and professional occupations.  The work-at-home 
rate for parents was slightly higher than for persons without children.  
(See tables 1 and 2.)

Use of Electronic Equipment

   Nearly 80 percent of those engaged in some job-related work at home in
2001 used a computer, and the same proportion used a telephone, as part of
their work at home.  About 63 percent of all persons who usually worked at
home made use of the Internet or e-mail to do their work.  In general, those 
who were paid to work at home were more likely to use electronic equipment 
than workers who were just taking work home from the job.  (See table 5.)

Reason for Job-Related Work at Home

   Among wage and salary workers who were just taking work home on an unpaid 
basis, the most common reason for working at home was to "finish or catch up 
on work" (57 percent).  An additional 31 percent reported that they worked at 
home at least once per week because it was the "nature of the job."  For those 
paid to work at home as part of a formal arrangement with their employer, the 
reasons were more varied.  For example, 38 percent reported it was the "nature 
of the job," 23 percent indicated that "business is conducted from home," 
16 percent worked at home to "finish or catch up on work," and 11 percent 
arranged to work at home to "coordinate work schedule with personal or family 
needs."  Almost half of self-employed workers indicated the main reason for 
working at home was because their "business is conducted from home," with an 
additional 24 percent responding that it was the "nature of the job" to work 
at home.  (See table 6.)

                                  - 3 - 

Frequency of Work at Home

   The focus of this report is the 19.8 million persons who reported in
May 2001 that they worked at home at least once per week.  The total number
of persons who reported that they worked at home in the May 2001 survey--
regardless of how often they engaged in home-based work activity--was 
25.0 million (19.0 percent of total nonagricultural employment).  This  
includes, in addition to those who usually worked at home, 2.1 million 
persons who worked at home at least once every 2 weeks, 1.8 million who worked 
at home at least once per month, and 1.0 million who worked at home less than 
once per month.  (See table 7.)
   
   By way of comparison, in May 1997, 22.4 million employed persons did at
least some work at home as part of their primary job (17.8 percent of total
nonagricultural employment).  (See Technical Note for a discussion of data
comparability between the May 1997 and May 2001 surveys.)