Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Pajamas Labor Force

If you work from home regularly, there's a good chance you're working for yourself.

Some 55 percent of self-employed people worked from home on the average day last year -- and some consultants, business owners or entrepreneurs are more likely to work there than are sales representatives, finance managers and any other professional or managerial occupation, according to a new government report.

The figure is up from 49 percent in 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey. By comparison, 30 percent of professionals worked from home last year, and 20 percent of all workers did so.

The report is based on 12,250 people -- a random sample of the population -- in a computer-assisted telephone interview about their activities for a given day.

Employees worked on average 7.6 hours a day -- but the total rose to 7.9 hours for weekdays. Self-employed types worked a shorter day -- seven hours on the average weekday.

People with a bachelor's degree were much more likely to have a home office than were those with lower educational attainment.

-- Vickie Elmer