March 06, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Catching up is most common reason to work at home

Among wage and salary workers who work at home at least once per week, the most common reason is to "finish or catch up on work" (46 percent). An additional 33 percent report that they work at home because it is the "nature of the job." 

Reason for working at home, wage and salary workers, May 2001
[Chart data—TXT]

Eight percent of wage and salary workers who engage in at least some work at home do so because “business is conducted from home and 5 percent report working at home to “coordinate work schedule with personal or family needs.

Among the self-employed who work at home, in contrast, almost half indicate the main reason for working at home is because their "business is conducted from home," with an additional 24 percent responding that it is the "nature of the job" to work at home.

These data on work at home are from a supplement to the May 2001 Current Population Survey. Find out more in "Work at Home in 2001," news release USDL 02-107.

 

Related TED articles:

  • Most home workers are managers and professionals
  • Working at home  

     

     

    Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

    The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

    Find out more about the story of TED