Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics reveals that there were 4.2 million homeworkers in the first three months of this year or
13.9% of those in work. This is the highest rate of homeworking since
comparable records began in 1998.
Of these homeworkers, around 1.5 million worked within their home or its grounds, while the remaining 2.7 million
people used their home as a base but worked in
different places.
The number of homeworkers has grown by 1.3 million since 1998. However over the same period
the number of people in work has also been rising. The percentage of
those in work who work from home (also known as the home working rate)
increased from 11.1% in 1998 to stand at a rate of 13.9% at the end of
March which is the highest than at any point in the past 15 years
ONS's report says that the jobs that homeworkers carry out tend to be concentrated in
higher skilled roles than those of people who do not work from home. Of
the 4.2 million homeworkers in 2014, 14.8% were working as managers or
senior officials, 35.2% were professionals or associate professionals
and a further 23.5% were working within skilled trades.
Earnings for homeworkers reflect
this concentration in high-skill roles, the median being £13.23 an hour
compared with £10.50 an hour for other workers. The
most common roles for male homeworkers were among construction
occupations, while for women the top roles included childminding and
care work.
People working from home are more likely to be self-employed than
non-homeworkers. In January to March 2014, around 7% of non-homeworkers were self-employed compared with 63% of homeworkers. Around 34%
of home workers were employees of an organisation, with the small
remainder being people who worked unpaid in the family business.
Working from home is more prevalent among people who are older.
For those aged 16 to 24 the homeworking rate stood at 5.1%, compared
with 13.9% for all workers, while for those aged 65 and over, it was
38.3%.
Across 2013 as a whole, the South West was the region of Great
Britain with the highest home working rate at 17.1%, while the lowest
rate was in Scotland at 10.7%. As at the 2011 Census, the local area
with the highest home working rate across England and Wales was West
Somerset, at 25.7%, while the lowest was Kingston upon Hull, at 5.2%.
