Who
regularly works at home? And who gets paid for it? According
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), those in
professional specialty occupations were most likely to work
at home at least once per week in May 2001. But most were
not paid for this work. Workers either in executive,
administrative, and managerial occupations or in sales
occupations were most likely to do work at home that is
compensated.
The data are from a supplement to the May 2001 Current
Population Survey. As the chart indicates, workers in some
nonfarm occupational groups were more likely than others to
work at home regularly. Persons who usually work at home at
least once a week made up about one-third of all workers in
professional specialty occupations; about one-fourth of
those in executive, administrative, and managerial
positions; and about one-fifth of those in sales jobs. In
other occupational groups, the proportion who regularly
worked at home ranged from about 5 to 7 percent, but more
than half in these groups were compensated for their home
work.
About 20 million self-employed and wage-and-salary
workers usually worked at home at least once a week as part
of their primary job. Home workers were about 15 percent of
all workers aged 16 and older. But just under half of those,
about 7 percent, received compensation for that work, either
because they were self employed or because they had a
special arrangement with their employer to be paid for
working at home. "Unpaid" workers did not
necessarily get nothing for the work they did at home; many
are paid for their work at home through their regular
salary, although they are not paid specifically for the
home-based portion of their work.
To find out which occupations were most likely to involve
work at home, see "Work at home" in the OOQ’s
Grab Bag for fall 2002. Or, get even more detail from a
summary of the survey supplement, available online at www.bls.gov/cps
or by calling (202) 691-6378.
Source: Current Population Survey (CPS), May 2001 supplement.
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