Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm Technical information: (202) 606-6378 USDL 98-93 For release: 10:00 A.M. EST Media contact: 606-5902 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 job- related 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 at home on either a first or second job in May 1997, including 21.5 million who worked at home on their primary job and 3.0 million who did work at home on a second job. About 1.2 million persons had two jobs and worked at 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 Rate(1) Wage and salary Self-employed (3) Home- Paid Unpaid Total based business Total, 16 years and over.............. 21,478 17.8 17.0 51.5 30.1 19.2 Men..................................... 11,202 17.3 15.0 50.1 33.8 19.3 Women................................... 10,275 18.3 19.1 53.1 26.2 19.2 Occupation Managerial and professional specialty... 13,120 36.7 14.0 61.7 23.5 13.1 Executive, administrative, and managerial........................... 5,940 34.0 14.6 54.8 29.8 17.1 Professional specialty................ 7,180 39.2 13.5 67.5 18.2 9.7 Technical, sales, and administrative support.............................. 5,457 15.0 25.0 40.7 32.0 18.6 Technicians and related support....... 417 10.6 26.9 60.3 11.3 8.6 Sales occupations..................... 3,356 22.4 19.1 39.1 40.4 21.5 Administrative support, including clerical............................. 1,684 9.7 36.3 39.0 20.5 15.4 Service occupations..................... 1,250 7.2 20.4 23.0 54.0 49.3 Precision production, craft, and repair. 1,145 8.2 10.1 26.5 62.0 49.2 Operators, fabricators, and laborers.... 506 2.9 14.4 31.2 51.1 42.5 Industry Mining.................................. 73 12.3 (4) (4) (4) (4) Construction............................ 1,330 16.2 10.3 20.0 66.8 54.6 Manufacturing........................... 2,318 11.5 22.3 62.7 14.2 8.3 Transportation and public utilities..... 963 10.9 21.2 56.2 21.0 13.7 Wholesale trade......................... 1,202 24.4 28.5 42.8 27.7 15.4 Retail trade............................ 1,964 9.2 14.7 36.9 47.3 27.1 Finance, insurance, and real estate..... 2,008 25.7 16.4 48.6 33.1 14.5 Services................................ 10,954 25.1 14.8 55.6 28.3 18.8 Public administration................... 666 12.3 29.5 69.2 - - Race and Hispanic origin White................................... 19,646 19.2 17.0 50.7 30.9 19.7 Black................................... 1,117 8.5 16.6 64.8 16.2 12.1 Hispanic origin......................... 830 7.2 17.5 53.9 27.8 18.8 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) Home- Paid Unpaid Total based business Total, 16 years and over.............. 21,478 17.8 17.0 51.5 30.1 19.2 With no own children under 18....... 12,179 16.1 16.3 52.0 30.3 19.0 With own children under 18.......... 9,299 20.5 17.8 50.9 29.9 19.5 With own children under 6......... 3,885 19.6 18.8 47.6 31.6 22.3 Married, spouse present............... 15,175 21.6 16.9 50.1 31.6 19.8 With no own children under 18....... 6,804 21.7 15.9 49.1 33.8 20.7 With own children under 18.......... 8,372 21.6 17.8 50.9 29.8 19.0 With own children under 6......... 3,639 21.1 18.8 48.1 31.2 21.7 Other marital status.................. 6,302 12.4 17.0 55.0 26.6 17.9 With no own children under 18....... 5,375 12.2 16.9 55.7 26.0 16.8 With own children under 18.......... 927 14.0 17.7 50.9 30.1 24.1 With own children under 6......... 246 9.9 19.1 40.5 36.7 31.1 Men, 16 years and over.............. 11,202 17.3 15.0 50.1 33.8 19.3 With no own children under 18..... 6,259 15.4 16.0 47.1 35.8 21.3 With own children under 18........ 4,943 20.5 13.8 54.0 31.2 16.7 With own children under 6....... 2,118 18.8 14.2 55.5 28.7 16.3 Married, spouse present............. 8,385 21.1 14.8 50.8 33.4 18.3 With no own children under 18..... 3,678 21.5 15.9 45.9 37.1 21.5 With own children under 18........ 4,707 20.8 13.9 54.6 30.5 15.9 With own children under 6....... 2,069 19.3 14.3 55.8 28.4 15.9 Other marital status................ 2,817 11.2 15.8 48.1 34.8 22.0 With no own children under 18..... 2,581 10.9 16.1 48.7 33.9 21.0 With own children under 18........ 236 16.1 12.8 41.4 44.9 33.3 Women, 16 years and over............ 10,275 18.3 19.1 53.1 26.2 19.2 With no own children under 18..... 5,920 17.0 16.7 57.2 24.6 16.6 With own children under 18........ 4,356 20.4 22.4 47.4 28.3 22.7 With own children under 6....... 1,767 20.8 24.3 38.1 35.0 29.6 Married, spouse present............. 6,790 22.3 19.6 49.2 29.3 21.5 With no own children under 18..... 3,126 21.9 15.8 52.8 29.8 19.8 With own children under 18........ 3,664 22.6 22.9 46.2 28.9 23.0 With own children under 6....... 1,570 23.9 24.7 37.9 34.9 29.4 Other marital status................ 3,485 13.6 18.0 60.5 20.0 14.6 With no own children under 18..... 2,794 13.7 17.7 62.1 18.7 13.0 With own children under 18........ 691 13.4 19.4 54.2 25.1 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 Mean hours worked at home Worked at Characteristic home(1) 8 hours or more Total at Less than Worked at work on 8 hours home primary Total 35 hours job or more Total, 16 years and over.............. 3,644 47.7 52.3 16.0 14.9 40.8 Men..................................... 1,683 42.2 57.8 19.5 17.0 46.6 Women................................... 1,960 52.3 47.7 12.9 13.1 35.9 Occupation Managerial and professional specialty... 1,836 48.8 51.2 15.3 14.5 42.2 Executive, administrative, and managerial........................... 867 51.9 48.1 16.7 14.6 43.8 Professional specialty................ 969 46.0 54.0 14.1 14.3 40.7 Technical, sales, and administrative support.............................. 1,363 47.4 52.6 13.8 14.1 39.2 Technicians and related support....... 112 45.3 54.7 18.4 16.2 44.4 Sales occupations..................... 640 39.3 60.7 16.8 16.6 42.8 Administrative support, including clerical............................. 611 56.0 44.0 9.8 11.2 34.5 Service occupations..................... 256 36.3 63.7 31.7 24.4 38.5 Precision production, craft, and repair. 116 56.5 43.5 12.4 11.3 42.0 Operators, fabricators, and laborers.... 73 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) Industry Construction............................ 136 39.4 60.6 21.2 17.1 37.1 Manufacturing........................... 517 43.5 56.5 18.4 15.2 43.3 Transportation and public utilities..... 205 58.2 41.8 16.8 13.4 43.4 Wholesale trade......................... 343 35.9 64.1 13.5 16.2 43.9 Retail trade............................ 289 59.8 40.2 11.3 10.9 37.1 Finance, insurance, and real estate..... 330 49.6 50.4 17.3 15.8 41.9 Services................................ 1,616 46.9 53.1 15.6 15.2 39.8 Public administration................... 196 58.7 41.3 17.4 13.8 39.9 Race and Hispanic origin White................................... 3,345 47.8 52.2 15.4 14.7 40.7 Black................................... 185 43.5 56.5 19.3 17.0 43.9 Hispanic origin......................... 145 36.4 63.6 21.1 18.2 38.8 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 Mean hours hours worked at home Characteristic Worked at home(1) Total at Less than 8 hours Worked at work on 8 hours or more home primary job Total, 16 years and over.............. 11,067 69.5 30.5 8.9 46.5 Men..................................... 5,615 71.1 28.9 8.7 49.1 Women................................... 5,452 67.9 32.1 9.1 43.9 Occupation Managerial and professional specialty... 8,098 67.4 32.6 9.2 46.9 Executive, administrative, and managerial........................... 3,253 74.3 25.7 8.7 49.5 Professional specialty................ 4,845 62.7 37.3 9.6 45.1 Technical, sales, and administrative support.............................. 2,220 73.6 26.4 8.2 45.3 Technicians and related support....... 252 79.3 20.7 6.8 43.5 Sales occupations..................... 1,311 69.4 30.6 9.5 48.2 Administrative support, including clerical............................. 657 79.7 20.3 6.3 40.4 Service occupations..................... 288 82.8 17.2 5.8 43.9 Precision production, craft, and repair. 303 81.3 18.7 6.3 46.7 Operators, fabricators, and laborers.... 158 74.7 25.3 10.6 49.9 Industry Construction............................ 266 72.4 27.6 7.9 44.9 Manufacturing........................... 1,454 76.9 23.1 8.1 48.7 Transportation and public utilities..... 541 76.5 23.5 8.3 48.6 Wholesale trade......................... 514 67.7 32.3 9.5 49.2 Retail trade............................ 725 78.5 21.5 8.2 48.9 Finance, insurance, and real estate..... 976 72.4 27.6 9.4 46.3 Services................................ 6,089 64.6 35.4 9.4 45.5 Public administration................... 461 82.0 18.0 6.3 45.1 Race and Hispanic origin White................................... 9,958 70.1 29.9 8.8 46.8 Black................................... 724 64.6 35.4 10.5 43.8 Hispanic origin......................... 447 71.4 28.6 9.2 47.0 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 Mean hours worked at home Worked at Characteristic home(1) 8 hours or more Total at Less than Worked at work on 8 hours home primary Total 35 hours job or more Total, 16 years and over.............. 4,125 30.4 69.6 29.3 23.0 37.3 Men..................................... 2,157 36.2 63.8 25.5 20.4 42.1 Women................................... 1,968 24.2 75.8 33.5 25.9 31.9 Occupation Managerial and professional specialty... 1,714 28.3 71.7 28.2 23.1 37.0 Executive, administrative, and managerial........................... 1,014 28.3 71.7 29.0 23.8 39.6 Professional specialty................ 700 28.3 71.7 27.1 22.1 33.2 Technical, sales, and administrative support.............................. 1,016 33.4 66.6 22.5 19.5 32.0 Sales occupations..................... 722 34.4 65.6 24.1 20.2 35.8 Administrative support, including clerical............................. 259 33.1 66.9 15.5 16.7 20.1 Service occupations..................... 616 12.0 88.0 58.3 36.9 42.1 Precision production, craft, and repair. 564 50.1 49.9 15.1 14.8 41.9 Operators, fabricators, and laborers.... 215 36.1 63.9 22.4 20.0 38.0 Industry Construction............................ 726 49.5 50.5 14.3 14.3 44.3 Manufacturing........................... 193 13.6 86.4 38.5 29.1 36.5 Transportation and public utilities..... 132 52.8 47.2 18.0 14.9 35.7 Wholesale trade......................... 185 28.9 71.1 30.2 22.3 39.4 Retail trade............................ 532 38.9 61.1 19.2 19.1 30.5 Finance, insurance, and real estate..... 291 22.5 77.5 23.6 20.9 34.5 Services................................ 2,054 23.0 77.0 37.8 27.4 36.8 Race and Hispanic origin White................................... 3,868 30.5 69.5 29.0 22.9 36.9 Black................................... 135 29.2 70.8 47.0 29.1 42.7 Hispanic origin......................... 156 27.8 72.2 31.3 23.8 35.9 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 Telephone work Computer Modem Fax Own line Employer provided Total, 16 years and over............. 21,478 12,785 7,533 6,165 13,413 1,516 Men..................................... 11,202 7,204 4,739 3,911 7,639 986 Women................................... 10,275 5,581 2,794 2,254 5,774 530 Class of worker and pay status(1) Wage and salary workers(2).............. 14,946 9,223 5,261 3,566 8,036 1,516 Paid.................................. 3,644 2,307 1,573 1,276 1,859 846 Unpaid................................ 11,067 6,813 3,635 2,247 6,054 662 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: All workers by selected characteristics, May 1997 (Numbers in thousands) Worked at home Characteristic Mean hours Total Rate(1) Worked at home Total at work on second job TOTAL Total, 16 years and over.............. 3,005 37.4 8.2 13.0 With no own children under 18....... 1,709 33.5 8.7 13.2 With own children under 18.......... 1,296 44.3 7.6 12.6 With own children under 6......... 554 43.4 7.7 12.5 Married, spouse present............... 2,091 46.7 8.3 12.8 With no own children under 18....... 930 47.3 9.0 13.0 With own children under 18.......... 1,161 46.2 7.8 12.6 With own children under 6......... 524 44.9 7.8 12.5 Other marital status.................. 915 25.8 8.1 13.3 With no own children under 18....... 780 24.9 8.3 13.5 With own children under 18.......... 135 32.6 6.4 12.4 Men, 16 years and over.............. 1,686 39.2 9.3 14.5 With no own children under 18..... 958 36.2 9.8 14.7 With own children under 18........ 728 44.0 8.6 14.3 With own children under 6....... 327 40.1 8.3 14.1 Married, spouse present............. 1,242 46.3 9.3 14.3 With no own children under 18..... 541 48.4 10.0 14.3 With own children under 18........ 701 44.9 8.7 14.3 With own children under 6....... 322 41.4 8.3 14.1 Other marital status................ 444 27.4 9.2 15.1 With no own children under 18..... 417 27.2 9.5 15.3 With own children under 18........ 27 (2) (2) (2) Women, 16 years and over............ 1,319 35.4 7.0 11.0 With no own children under 18..... 751 30.6 7.4 11.3 With own children under 18........ 569 44.6 6.4 10.5 With own children under 6....... 227 49.4 6.8 10.3 Married, spouse present............. 849 47.2 6.9 10.6 With no own children under 18..... 388 45.8 7.6 11.2 With own children under 18........ 460 48.5 6.4 10.1 With own children under 6....... 201 52.0 6.8 10.0 Other marital status................ 471 24.4 7.0 11.6 With no own children under 18..... 362 22.6 7.1 11.4 With own children under 18........ 108 33.4 6.5 12.3 Race and Hispanic origin White................................... 2,755 39.7 8.2 12.8 Black................................... 180 22.5 9.5 16.4 Hispanic origin......................... 131 25.4 6.5 12.6 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.