Work From Home

According to the U.S. Department of Labor

By the year 2006 (and we're already beyond that now), the need for technicians skilled in information technology increased as much as 75%, which obviously has a direct correlation to the continuing and newly emergent need for those who create the information. As always, technology will be developed to meet demand. In 1995, there were 8 million telecommuters; in 1997 that number climbed to 11 million, and by the end of this year, will be over 40 million.

This represents a very fundamental way in which America works, due in no small part to increased productivity and increased profits. Why increased profits? Because estimates show that companies can save as much as $12,000 per year per telecommuter through the savings of office leasing costs, overhead expenses, benefits - sick-leave, health care costs… the list goes on. In every industry, it is estimated that the overhead for a single employee is 125% of the base salary.

It is clear that increased technology communication capability has put more people to work at home. Creativity, flexibility and unfailing professionalism will be the key ingredients to success. It was estimated that by the turn of the century, half of the labor force will be involved in the information industry. The United States manages and processes information better than any other country, and that is the trend for the future. Many will be doing this from home as technology continues to make it more possible and practical to complete tasks formerly performed only in a physical business setting.

Demographically

Baby boomers comprise the largest and best-educated segment of our population. They are now reaching middle age and the traditional age pyramid of our country is changing. The 45 to 64-age bracket by the year 2000 represented one third of the labor force. Sixty five percent of women between the ages of 20 and 65 are working. Additionally, 65% of all new labor force entrants will be women. In 2005 women ran 50 percent of all the businesses in the U.S. They are becoming self-employed at a rate twelve times that of men. They outnumber men on-line on the Net.

According to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

In May 2004, 20.7 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 about 15 percent of total nonagricultural employment in May 2004, essentially the same percentage as in May 2001.

These findings are from a special supplement to the May 2004 Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that obtains information on employment and unemployment among the nation's civilian nonistitutional population age 16 and over. Data on work at home were last collected in the CPS in May 2001. The May 2001 data presented in this release have been revised to be comparable with the May 2004 estimates. For further information, see the Technical Note.

Occupation and Industry

The likelihood of working at home varies greatly by occupation. This is not surprising, since some jobs are more readily done away from the workplace than others. Almost 30 percent of workers in management, professional, and related occupations reported working at home in May 2004. Nearly two-thirds of persons who usually worked at home were employed in these occupations. About 1 in 5 sales workers usually worked at home. In contrast, only 3 per- cent of workers in production, transportation, and material moving occupations performed job-related work at home. From an industry perspective, workers employed in professional and business services, in financial activities, and in education and health services were among the most likely to work at home in 2004.

Pay Status

Of the 13.7 million wage and salary workers who usually did some work at home in 2004, about 3.3 million, or 1 in 4, had a formal arrangement with their employer to be paid for the time they put in at home. About half of these paid home workers spent 8 hours or more per week working at home, and about 1 in 7 put in 35 hours or more per week at home. On average, those with a formal arrangement to be paid for their work time at home logged about 19 hours per week at home.

About three-fourths of wage and salary workers who did job-related work at home on a regular basis did so without a formal arrangement to be paid for this work. Of these 10.2 million workers just taking work home from the job, about 22 percent regularly worked 8 hours or more per week at home. Workers doing unpaid job-related activity at home averaged about 7 hours per week at home.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Organizing Your Time

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