Work at home: new findings from the Current Population Survey - home labor

Monthly Labor Review, Nov, 1986 by Francis W. Horvath

Work at home: new findings from the Current Population Survey

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.

It should be noted that persons working at home on a second job or business were not counted among home-based workers. "Work-at-home' as defined here pertains only to work done as part, or as an extension, of one's primary job. Of course, given this definition, it is possible that persons who regularly bring work home, such as managers reading or writing memos at home, or teachers grading papers, might consider such work to be "regularly scheduled,' and will report it as home-based work.

Earlier studies

The May survey was the first specific attempt to estimate the size of the home-based work force. Other estimates had been available from secondary sources and private studies.1 For example, in response to a special congressional request, the Census Bureau had produced a tabulation on persons working at home from the data gathered as part of the 1980 census.2 The specific source for the study was a question on methods of travel to work, to which one possible response was "worked at home.' According to the data, about 2.2 million persons were identified as home-based workers. More than half (1.2 million) of homeworkers were self employed.

More recently, a privately conducted study was designed to study work-at-home styles. In a telephone survey, respondents were asked questions about work hours, job satisfaction, and computer usage in the home. Nearly 60 percent of the respondents cited working part-time at home as the "ideal work arrangement.'3

Who are "homeworkers'?

Of the 17.3 million persons with any home-based work in nonfarm occupations (regardless of the number of hours reported), about 9.6 million (55 percent) were men. (See table 1.) While men outnumbered women in the general classification of home-based work, women who worked at home had a stronger commitment to the home as a workplace. For example, women averaged 11.1 hours per week on home-based work, while men put in 9.3 hours. About 8 percent of the women worked 35 hours or more at home, compared with 4 percent of the men. Overall, there were 60 percent more women than men who worked the equivalent of a full-time, week at home.

Work at home appears to be a particularly attractive option for older persons, for whom the daily commute to work can be very tiring. Nearly one fifth of all nonfarm home-based workers working 35 hours or more weekly consisted of persons over 55 years of age, a group that accounts for only 1 in 8 of all employed workers.

The distribution of home-based work by race also showed slightly higher percentages of white workers than are found in the overall labor force. There were about 660,000 black and Hispanic workers with 8 hours or more of home-based work.

Industrial and occupational comparisons

Much of the interest in home-based work has centered around a few key industries and occupations. For example, it is believed that a growing number of clerical workers are opting to establish their own businesses at home, having been attracted by the idea of "being one's own boss.'4 Clerical workers such as secretaries, typists, forms processors, and data entry personnel have seen a drop in the cost of capital equipment that has enabled them to set up shop at home. Declining prices for personal computers and other electronic equipment have given many persons in professional service industries, such as financial records processing and bookkeeping, an opportunity to begin a business with very low startup costs.

Table 2 presents counts of home-based workers who worked for 8 hours or more at home by major nonagricultural industry group and sex. By far the largest industry group of home-based workers is in services. This category includes educational, professional, and business and repair services, as well as such social services as child care. Nearly 60 percent of women who worked 8 hours or more at home were in the services industry, compared with only 35 percent of the men.