Saturday, October 06, 2012

Huge rise in number of American homeworkers

In 2010, 4.2 million more people worked at home than a decade before, according to a report just released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the number of people who worked at home at least one day per week increased from 9.5 million in 1999 to 13.4 million in 2010, increasing from 7 percent to 9.5 percent of all workers. The largest increase occurred between 2005 and 2010, when the share grew from 7.8 percent to 9.5 percent of all workers, an increase of more than 2 million.

The Survey of Income and Program Participation has provided information on home-based workers since the mid-1990s and differentiates by those who work exclusively from home (home workers), those who worked only outside of the home (onsite), and those who worked both from home and at a location outside of the home (mixed workers).

The survey revealed that median household income was significantly higher for mixed workers at $96,300, compared with $74,000 for home workers and $65,600 for onsite workers. Estimates from the 2010 American Community Survey indicate that the Boulder, Colo., metropolitan area had among the highest percent of workers who worked from home most of the week with 10.9 percent, followed by Medford, Ore., with 8.4, Santa Fe, N.M., with 8.3, Kingston, N.Y. with 8.1; and Santa Rosa-Petaluma, Calif., with 7.9.

Although nearly half of home-based workers were self-employed, government workers saw the largest increase in home-based work over the last decade. Home-based workers increased by 133 percent among state government workers and 88 percent among federal government workers. There was a 67 percent increase in home-based work for employees of private companies.

Other highlights:
 * About one in 10 who worked exclusively from home were 65 and older in 2010.
* About one-fourth of home-based workers were in management, business and financial occupations. * Home-based workers in computer, engineering and science occupations increased by 69 percent between 2000 and 2010.
* Mondays and Fridays were the most popular days to work at home for those who work both at home and at another location.
* Metro areas in the Southeast, Southwest and West had the largest percentage of workers who worked from home. ---------------------------------------------------
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1 comment:

  1. Yes, self-employment becomes a peaceful job in this global, so no wonder that, half of home based workers were self-employed. It is really good to see the stats in one look.

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