Full text of Work at Home in... : 1997, USDL 98-93 : 1997
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Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm Technical information: (202) 606-6378 USDL 98-93 Media contact: 606-5902 For release: 10:00 A.M. EST Wednesday, March 11, 1998 WORK AT HOME IN 1997 More than 21 million persons did some work at home as part of their primary job in May 1997, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The overall number of persons doing jobrelated work at home did not grow dramatically between 1991 and 1997, but the number of wage and salary workers doing paid work at home did. These findings are from a special supplement to the May 1997 Current Population Survey (CPS), the monthly survey of about 50,000 households that provides data on the nation’s labor force. The information presented here pertains to persons employed in nonagricultural industries who were at work during the May 1997 survey reference week and indicated that they do some job-related work at home. Similar data were last collected in the CPS in May 1991. Highlights of the 1997 survey include: --More than half of those working at home were wage and salary workers who were not paid expressly for their time worked at home. About 17 percent, however, were wage and salary workers who were paid for the hours they put in at home. Virtually all the remainder were self-employed workers, nearly two-thirds of whom had home-based businesses. --Nearly 9 of 10 workers doing paid work at home were in "white-collar" occupations. --More than 4.1 million self-employed persons were working in a home-based business. --About 6 in 10 used a computer for the work they did at home. --Wage and salary workers who were paid for working at home averaged nearly 15 hours per week at home; those who weren’t paid worked about 9 hours at home. Workers in home-based businesses worked 23 hours per week at home, on average. --Of those who worked at a second job, 37 percent did at least some of their work at home. Pay Status, Industry, and Occupation While the number of persons reporting work at home grew by only 1.5 million since 1991, there was a sharp increase in the number of persons who were paid for working at home. In 1997, 3.6 million wage and salary workers-about 3.3 percent of all wage and salary workers--were paid for the work they did at home. In 1991, only 1.9 million wage and salary workers--1.9 percent of the total--were doing work at home for pay. - 2 Of the 3.6 million wage and salary workers doing paid work at home, 88 percent were in "white-collar" occupations. Nearly a million of these workers were in professional specialty occupations, slightly more than the number of executives and managers. Sales and administrative support occupations also had large numbers of paid home workers. By industry, about 1.6 million wage and salary workers in the services industry were doing paid work at home--about 44 percent of the total; more than half a million in manufacturing were paid for work at home. All of the major industry groups except mining had significant numbers of workers doing paid work at home. (See table 3.) The number of persons who were simply "taking work home from the office"--that is, wage and salary workers who were not being officially compensated for the work they did at home--was 11.1 million. (See table 4.) This was a modest decline from 1991, when 12.2 million wage and salary workers worked at home without being paid for that work. As with those paid, persons who were not paid for the work they did at home were overwhelmingly employed in white-collar occupations. Teachers were especially likely to do unpaid work at home; 2.8 million teachers reported doing so in 1997. From an industry perspective, services had the largest number of unpaid home workers (6.1 million), followed by manufacturing (1.5 million). About 6.5 million self-employed persons did some work at home in May 1997, more than half of all the self-employed who were at work during the survey reference week. More than 4.1 million of the self-employed indicated that they were working in home-based businesses. This was the first time that the CPS had contained questions specifically designed to gather information on home-based businesses. Managers and professionals accounted for 1.7 million, or two-fifths, of those working in home-based businesses. Sales, service, and precision production occupations also had large numbers of such workers. In terms of industry, 2.1 million persons, or about half, were working in services, while construction and retail trade accounted for 726,000 and 532,000 workers, respectively. (See table 5.) Demographics More than 70 percent of persons who did some work at home in 1997 were in married-couple families. Women and men were about equally likely to work at home. The work-at-home rate for married parents was about the same as the rate for married persons without children. Whites were more than twice as likely to be engaged in some form of home-based work as either blacks or Hispanics. (See tables 1 and 2.) Computer Use Just under 60 percent of those who worked at home in 1997 used computers. Among wage and salary workers, computer use was about the same for those who were paid for work done at home (63.3 percent) as for those doing unpaid work at home (61.6 percent). Paid home workers were more likely to use a modem for their work at home (43.2 percent) than were unpaid home workers (32.8 percent). Also, 23.2 percent of paid home workers used a telephone line that was furnished by their employer. Only 54.4 percent of self-employed home workers used a computer for work done at home. (See table 6.) Work at Home on a Second Job Of the 8.0 million persons who worked on a second job in May 1997, 37 percent did at least some of that work at home. Men with a second job were slightly more likely than women to work at home on that job, and married people were substantially more likely to work at home than unmarried people. Married parents were about as likely to work at home on a second job as married persons without children. However, single parents, and especially single mothers, had higher work-at-home rates than single workers without children. (See table 7.) - 3 A total of 23.3 million persons were engaged in work a first or second job in May 1997, including 21.5 million home on their primary job and 3.0 million who did work at job. About 1.2 million persons had two jobs and worked at at home on either who worked at home on a second home on both. --------------------------------------------------------------| Information in this release will be made available to sensory| |impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-606-STAT; | |TDD phone: 202-606-5897; TDD message referral phone number: | |1-800-326-2577. | --------------------------------------------------------------- Table 1. Job-related work at home on primary job: All workers by sex, occupation, industry, and pay status, May 1997 (Numbers in thousands) Worked at home Percent distribution by class of worker(2) Characteristic Total Total, 16 years and over.............. Men..................................... Women................................... Rate(1) Wage and salary Self-employed (3) Paid Unpaid Total Homebased business 21,478 11,202 10,275 17.8 17.3 18.3 17.0 15.0 19.1 51.5 50.1 53.1 30.1 33.8 26.2 19.2 19.3 19.2 13,120 36.7 14.0 61.7 23.5 13.1 5,940 7,180 34.0 39.2 14.6 13.5 54.8 67.5 29.8 18.2 17.1 9.7 5,457 417 3,356 15.0 10.6 22.4 25.0 26.9 19.1 40.7 60.3 39.1 32.0 11.3 40.4 18.6 8.6 21.5 1,684 1,250 1,145 506 9.7 7.2 8.2 2.9 36.3 20.4 10.1 14.4 39.0 23.0 26.5 31.2 20.5 54.0 62.0 51.1 15.4 49.3 49.2 42.5 73 1,330 2,318 963 12.3 16.2 11.5 10.9 (4) 10.3 22.3 21.2 (4) 20.0 62.7 56.2 (4) 66.8 14.2 21.0 (4) 54.6 8.3 13.7 Occupation Managerial and professional specialty... Executive, administrative, and managerial........................... Professional specialty................ Technical, sales, and administrative support.............................. Technicians and related support....... Sales occupations..................... Administrative support, including clerical............................. Service occupations..................... Precision production, craft, and repair. Operators, fabricators, and laborers.... Industry Mining.................................. Construction............................ Manufacturing........................... Transportation and public utilities..... Wholesale trade......................... Retail trade............................ Finance, insurance, and real estate..... Services................................ Public administration................... 1,202 1,964 2,008 10,954 666 24.4 9.2 25.7 25.1 12.3 28.5 14.7 16.4 14.8 29.5 42.8 36.9 48.6 55.6 69.2 27.7 47.3 33.1 28.3 - 15.4 27.1 14.5 18.8 - 19,646 1,117 830 19.2 8.5 7.2 17.0 16.6 17.5 50.7 64.8 53.9 30.9 16.2 27.8 19.7 12.1 18.8 Race and Hispanic origin White................................... Black................................... Hispanic origin......................... 1 Refers to the number of persons working at home as a percent of the total at work. The calculation excludes those persons who did not respond to the questions on work at home. 2 Excludes unpaid family workers, not shown separately. 3 Includes both the incorporated and unincorporated self-employed. 4 Data not shown where the base is less than 75,000. NOTE: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries who reported work at home during the survey reference week as part of their primary job. Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1997 estimates. Dash represents zero. Table 2. Job-related work at home on primary job: All workers by sex, marital status, presence and age of children, and pay status, May 1997 (Numbers in thousands) Worked at home Percent distribution by class of worker(2) Characteristic Total Rate(1) Wage and salary Self-employed (3) Paid Unpaid Total Homebased business Total, 16 years and over.............. With no own children under 18....... With own children under 18.......... With own children under 6......... 21,478 12,179 9,299 3,885 17.8 16.1 20.5 19.6 17.0 16.3 17.8 18.8 51.5 52.0 50.9 47.6 30.1 30.3 29.9 31.6 19.2 19.0 19.5 22.3 Married, spouse present............... With no own children under 18....... With own children under 18.......... With own children under 6......... 15,175 6,804 8,372 3,639 21.6 21.7 21.6 21.1 16.9 15.9 17.8 18.8 50.1 49.1 50.9 48.1 31.6 33.8 29.8 31.2 19.8 20.7 19.0 21.7 Other marital status.................. With no own children under 18....... With own children under 18.......... With own children under 6......... 6,302 5,375 927 246 12.4 12.2 14.0 9.9 17.0 16.9 17.7 19.1 55.0 55.7 50.9 40.5 26.6 26.0 30.1 36.7 17.9 16.8 24.1 31.1 Men, 16 years and over.............. With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ With own children under 6....... 11,202 6,259 4,943 2,118 17.3 15.4 20.5 18.8 15.0 16.0 13.8 14.2 50.1 47.1 54.0 55.5 33.8 35.8 31.2 28.7 19.3 21.3 16.7 16.3 Married, spouse present............. With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ With own children under 6....... 8,385 3,678 4,707 2,069 21.1 21.5 20.8 19.3 14.8 15.9 13.9 14.3 50.8 45.9 54.6 55.8 33.4 37.1 30.5 28.4 18.3 21.5 15.9 15.9 Other marital status................ With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ 2,817 2,581 236 11.2 10.9 16.1 15.8 16.1 12.8 48.1 48.7 41.4 34.8 33.9 44.9 22.0 21.0 33.3 Women, 16 years and over............ With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ With own children under 6....... 10,275 5,920 4,356 1,767 18.3 17.0 20.4 20.8 19.1 16.7 22.4 24.3 53.1 57.2 47.4 38.1 26.2 24.6 28.3 35.0 19.2 16.6 22.7 29.6 Married, spouse present............. With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ With own children under 6....... 6,790 3,126 3,664 1,570 22.3 21.9 22.6 23.9 19.6 15.8 22.9 24.7 49.2 52.8 46.2 37.9 29.3 29.8 28.9 34.9 21.5 19.8 23.0 29.4 Other marital status................ 3,485 13.6 18.0 60.5 20.0 14.6 With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ 2,794 691 13.7 13.4 17.7 19.4 62.1 54.2 18.7 25.1 13.0 20.9 1 Refers to the number of persons working at home as a percent of the total at work. The calculation excludes those persons who did not respond to the questions on work at home. 2 Excludes unpaid family workers, not shown separately. 3 Includes both the incorporated and unincorporated self-employed NOTE: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries who reported work at home during the survey reference week as part of their primary job. Own children include sons, daughters, step-children, and adopted children. Not included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and other related and unrelated children. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1997 estimates. Table 3. Paid job-related work at home on primary job: Wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, May 1997 (Numbers in thousands) Percent distribution by hours worked at home Characteristic Worked at home(1) 8 hours or more Less than 8 hours Total, 16 years and over.............. Men..................................... Women................................... Mean hours Total 35 hours or more Worked at home Total at work on primary job 3,644 1,683 1,960 47.7 42.2 52.3 52.3 57.8 47.7 16.0 19.5 12.9 14.9 17.0 13.1 40.8 46.6 35.9 1,836 48.8 51.2 15.3 14.5 42.2 867 969 51.9 46.0 48.1 54.0 16.7 14.1 14.6 14.3 43.8 40.7 1,363 112 640 47.4 45.3 39.3 52.6 54.7 60.7 13.8 18.4 16.8 14.1 16.2 16.6 39.2 44.4 42.8 Occupation Managerial and professional specialty... Executive, administrative, and managerial........................... Professional specialty................ Technical, sales, and administrative support.............................. Technicians and related support....... Sales occupations..................... Administrative support, including clerical............................. Service occupations..................... Precision production, craft, and repair. Operators, fabricators, and laborers.... 611 256 116 73 56.0 36.3 56.5 (2) 44.0 63.7 43.5 (2) 9.8 31.7 12.4 (2) 11.2 24.4 11.3 (2) 34.5 38.5 42.0 (2) 136 517 205 343 289 330 1,616 196 39.4 43.5 58.2 35.9 59.8 49.6 46.9 58.7 60.6 56.5 41.8 64.1 40.2 50.4 53.1 41.3 21.2 18.4 16.8 13.5 11.3 17.3 15.6 17.4 17.1 15.2 13.4 16.2 10.9 15.8 15.2 13.8 37.1 43.3 43.4 43.9 37.1 41.9 39.8 39.9 3,345 185 145 47.8 43.5 36.4 52.2 56.5 63.6 15.4 19.3 21.1 14.7 17.0 18.2 40.7 43.9 38.8 Industry Construction............................ Manufacturing........................... Transportation and public utilities..... Wholesale trade......................... Retail trade............................ Finance, insurance, and real estate..... Services................................ Public administration................... Race and Hispanic origin White................................... Black................................... Hispanic origin......................... 1 Includes persons who worked at home but did not report the number of hours worked. Persons who did not report the number of hours worked are excluded from the distribution. 2 Data not shown where the base is less than 75,000. NOTE: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries who reported work at home during the survey reference week as part of their primary job. Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1997 estimates. Table 4. Unpaid job-related work at home on primary job: Wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, May 1997 (Numbers in thousands) Percent distribution by hours worked at home Characteristic Mean hours Worked at home(1) Total at Total, 16 years and over.............. Men..................................... Women................................... Less than 8 hours 8 hours or more Worked at home work on primary job 11,067 5,615 5,452 69.5 71.1 67.9 30.5 28.9 32.1 8.9 8.7 9.1 46.5 49.1 43.9 8,098 67.4 32.6 9.2 46.9 3,253 4,845 74.3 62.7 25.7 37.3 8.7 9.6 49.5 45.1 2,220 252 1,311 73.6 79.3 69.4 26.4 20.7 30.6 8.2 6.8 9.5 45.3 43.5 48.2 657 288 303 158 79.7 82.8 81.3 74.7 20.3 17.2 18.7 25.3 6.3 5.8 6.3 10.6 40.4 43.9 46.7 49.9 266 1,454 541 514 725 976 6,089 461 72.4 76.9 76.5 67.7 78.5 72.4 64.6 82.0 27.6 23.1 23.5 32.3 21.5 27.6 35.4 18.0 7.9 8.1 8.3 9.5 8.2 9.4 9.4 6.3 44.9 48.7 48.6 49.2 48.9 46.3 45.5 45.1 9,958 724 447 70.1 64.6 71.4 29.9 35.4 28.6 8.8 10.5 9.2 46.8 43.8 47.0 Occupation Managerial and professional specialty... Executive, administrative, and managerial........................... Professional specialty................ Technical, sales, and administrative support.............................. Technicians and related support....... Sales occupations..................... Administrative support, including clerical............................. Service occupations..................... Precision production, craft, and repair. Operators, fabricators, and laborers.... Industry Construction............................ Manufacturing........................... Transportation and public utilities..... Wholesale trade......................... Retail trade............................ Finance, insurance, and real estate..... Services................................ Public administration................... Race and Hispanic origin White................................... Black................................... Hispanic origin......................... 1 Includes persons who worked at home but did not report the number of hours worked. Persons who did not report the number of hours worked are excluded from the distribution. NOTE: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries who reported work at home during the survey reference week as part of their primary job. Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1997 estimates. Table 5. Home-based businesses: Self-employed persons by selected characteristics, May 1997 (Numbers in thousands) Percent distribution by hours worked at home Characteristic Worked at home(1) 8 hours or more Less than 8 hours Total, 16 years and over.............. Men..................................... Women................................... Mean hours Total 35 hours or more Worked at home Total at work on primary job 4,125 2,157 1,968 30.4 36.2 24.2 69.6 63.8 75.8 29.3 25.5 33.5 23.0 20.4 25.9 37.3 42.1 31.9 1,714 28.3 71.7 28.2 23.1 37.0 1,014 700 28.3 28.3 71.7 71.7 29.0 27.1 23.8 22.1 39.6 33.2 1,016 722 33.4 34.4 66.6 65.6 22.5 24.1 19.5 20.2 32.0 35.8 259 616 564 215 33.1 12.0 50.1 36.1 66.9 88.0 49.9 63.9 15.5 58.3 15.1 22.4 16.7 36.9 14.8 20.0 20.1 42.1 41.9 38.0 726 193 132 49.5 13.6 52.8 50.5 86.4 47.2 14.3 38.5 18.0 14.3 29.1 14.9 44.3 36.5 35.7 Occupation Managerial and professional specialty... Executive, administrative, and managerial........................... Professional specialty................ Technical, sales, and administrative support.............................. Sales occupations..................... Administrative support, including clerical............................. Service occupations..................... Precision production, craft, and repair. Operators, fabricators, and laborers.... Industry Construction............................ Manufacturing........................... Transportation and public utilities..... Wholesale trade......................... Retail trade............................ Finance, insurance, and real estate..... Services................................ 185 532 291 2,054 28.9 38.9 22.5 23.0 71.1 61.1 77.5 77.0 30.2 19.2 23.6 37.8 22.3 19.1 20.9 27.4 39.4 30.5 34.5 36.8 3,868 135 156 30.5 29.2 27.8 69.5 70.8 72.2 29.0 47.0 31.3 22.9 29.1 23.8 36.9 42.7 35.9 Race and Hispanic origin White................................... Black................................... Hispanic origin......................... 1 Includes persons who worked at home but did not report the number of hours worked. Persons who did not report the number of hours worked are excluded from the distribution. NOTE: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries who reported work in a home-based business during the survey reference week as part of their primary job. Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1997 estimates. Table 6. Job-related work at home on primary job: All workers by usage of electronic equipment at home, May 1997 (In thousands) Workers using electronic equipment for work Characteristic Total at work Telephone Computer Total, 16 years and over............. Men..................................... Women................................... Modem Fax Own line Employer provided 21,478 11,202 10,275 12,785 7,204 5,581 7,533 4,739 2,794 6,165 3,911 2,254 13,413 7,639 5,774 1,516 986 530 14,946 3,644 11,067 9,223 2,307 6,813 5,261 1,573 3,635 3,566 1,276 2,247 8,036 1,859 6,054 1,516 846 662 Class of worker and pay status(1) Wage and salary workers(2).............. Paid.................................. Unpaid................................ Self-employed(3)........................ 6,470 3,517 2,250 2,571 5,328 - 1 Excludes unpaid family workers, not shown separately. 2 Includes persons who worked at home but did not report pay status. 3 Includes both the incorporated and unincorporated self-employed. NOTE: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries who reported work at home during the survey reference week as part of their primary job. The number of workers using electronic equipment at home exceeds the total number at work because many of these workers used more than one type of equipment. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1997 estimates. Dash represents zero. Table 7. Job-related work at home on second job: (Numbers in thousands) All workers by selected characteristics, May 1997 Worked at home Characteristic Mean hours Total Rate(1) Worked at home Total at work on second job TOTAL Total, 16 years and over.............. With no own children under 18....... With own children under 18.......... With own children under 6......... 3,005 1,709 1,296 554 37.4 33.5 44.3 43.4 8.2 8.7 7.6 7.7 13.0 13.2 12.6 12.5 Married, spouse present............... With no own children under 18....... With own children under 18.......... With own children under 6......... 2,091 930 1,161 524 46.7 47.3 46.2 44.9 8.3 9.0 7.8 7.8 12.8 13.0 12.6 12.5 Other marital status.................. With no own children under 18....... With own children under 18.......... 915 780 135 25.8 24.9 32.6 8.1 8.3 6.4 13.3 13.5 12.4 Men, 16 years and over.............. 1,686 39.2 9.3 14.5 With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ With own children under 6....... 958 728 327 36.2 44.0 40.1 9.8 8.6 8.3 14.7 14.3 14.1 Married, spouse present............. With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ With own children under 6....... 1,242 541 701 322 46.3 48.4 44.9 41.4 9.3 10.0 8.7 8.3 14.3 14.3 14.3 14.1 Other marital status................ With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ 444 417 27 27.4 27.2 (2) 9.2 9.5 (2) 15.1 15.3 (2) Women, 16 years and over............ With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ With own children under 6....... 1,319 751 569 227 35.4 30.6 44.6 49.4 7.0 7.4 6.4 6.8 11.0 11.3 10.5 10.3 Married, spouse present............. With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ With own children under 6....... 849 388 460 201 47.2 45.8 48.5 52.0 6.9 7.6 6.4 6.8 10.6 11.2 10.1 10.0 Other marital status................ With no own children under 18..... With own children under 18........ 471 362 108 24.4 22.6 33.4 7.0 7.1 6.5 11.6 11.4 12.3 2,755 180 131 39.7 22.5 25.4 8.2 9.5 6.5 12.8 16.4 12.6 Race and Hispanic origin White................................... Black................................... Hispanic origin......................... 1 Refers to the number of persons working at home on a second job as a percent of the total at work on a second job. The calculation excludes those persons who did not respond to the questions on work at home on a second job. 2 Data are not shown where the base is less than 75,000. NOTE: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries who reported work at home during the survey reference week as part of their second job. Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Own children include sons, daughters, step-children, and adopted children. Not included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and other related and unrelated children. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1997 estimates.