Figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that of the 19.8 million people who worked from home in May 2001, only 17 percent were wage and salary workers who were paid for all of their work by an employer.
In a separate report, the Bureau of National Affairs Inc. reported that the nation’s so-called home workers accounted for 15 percent of total employment last year.
Of those who worked at home in 2001, about 3.4 million had formal arrangements with their employers to be paid for the time they put in at home.
“Nearly half of these paid home workers spent eight hours or more per week working at home, and about one in six put in 35 or more hours at home,” said the report. “On average, those expressly paid for their work time at home logged a total of 18 hours from home.”
Even so, most wage and salary employees who work from home on a regular basis do not have a formal agreement stating they should be paid for the work. Regardless of whether they had a formal agreement or not, the majority of salary and wage earners were in managerial, professional, or sales jobs.
Among these professionals, schoolteachers were more likely to do unpaid work at home than any other group. In fact, 2.7 million–about half of all U.S. teachers–did unpaid work at home in 2001, according to federal researchers.
When the Bureau of Labor Statistics questioned workers to find out why they work at home, it learned that 57 percent took work home in order to catch up or keep up with their duties on the job; 31 percent said working at home at least one day a week was part of the job, and 11 percent said working at home helped them better coordinate family and personal activities with work demands. A handful of workers said they conducted business from home.
The BLS found that 80 percent of the nation’s home workers use a computer to work from home, and about 60 percent also use the Internet and e-mail. Women are just as likely as men to work from home, the report found. But whites were more likely than black or Hispanic workers to do so, and more working parents took workplace projects home than individuals without children.
Rewards are few
A breakdown of workers who are paid–and those aren’t–for doing work at home, according to a federal study.
MEN
Paid: 16.0%
Unpaid: 50.5%
Self employed: 32.6%
WOMEN
Paid: 18.9%
Unpaid: 53.7%
Self employed: 26.5%
MANAGERIAL, SPECIALTY
Paid: 14.2%
Unpaid: 62.8%
Self employed: 22.4%
SUPPORT, SALES
Paid: 24.7%
Unpaid: 40.2%
Self employed: 33.9%
SERVICE OCCUPATIONS
Paid: 24.1%
Unpaid: 18.4%
Self employed: 55.1%
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Note: Numbers may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
