August 03, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Computer use at work in 2003

In October 2003, 77 million persons used a computer at work. These workers accounted for 55.5 percent of total employment.

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About 2 of every 5 employed individuals connected to the Internet or used e-mail while on the job. (These two tasks will be collectively referred to as "Internet use.")

Women were more likely than men to use a computer and the Internet. Computer-use rates for women and men were 61.8 and 49.9 percent, respectively; the Internet-use rate for women was 45.1 percent, compared with 38.7 percent for men.

The greater likelihood of women to use a computer at work is due largely to their concentration in occupations in which computer use is most prevalent. For instance, nearly three-fourths of employed women are in management and professional and sales and office occupations; the computer-use rate for women in these two occupations combined was very high (74.8 percent).

In contrast, nearly two-fifths of men hold natural resources, construction, and maintenance and production, transportation, and material moving jobs. For men, the combined computer-use rate in these two occupational categories was 26.0 percent—30 percentage points lower than the rate for all workers.

This information is from a special supplement to the October 2003 Current Population Survey. Find more information in "Computer and Internet Use at Work in 2003" news release USDL 05-1457.