Work at home: new findings from the Current Population Survey, (EXCERPT), Monthly Labor Review Online, November 1986

Work at home: new findings
from the Current Population Survey

Francis W. Horvath

For some Americans, there is no separation of gainful work between the home and the workplace. A large number of persons regularly squeeze extra hours into their workweek by performing job-related chores at home. Others have completely eliminated the trip to work by setting up businesses or performing work-for-hire while at home.

In May 1985, the Bureau of Labor Statistics made its first attempt to determine the size of the home-based work force. Along with other questions on work practices, the respondents to the May survey were asked whether: "As part of...(the worker)'s regularly scheduled work, does...(he/she) do any of (his/her) work for...(the principal employer) at home?" Persons answering affirmatively were asked to estimate the number of hours of work done at home.

While more than 18 million people responded affirmatively, almost half of them worked at home for less than 8 hours a week. Another 770,000 were farmers or farm laborers. The remainder, nearly 8.4 million persons, had worked at home for 8 hours or more in the reference week, as part of a nonfarm job. They are the focus of most of the analysis which follows.

This excerpt is from an article published in the November 1986 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.

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