An Overview of Home-Based Work:

Results From a Regional Research Project Marilyn M. Furry and Mark Lino

Expenditures for Food Away From Home

Julia M. Dinkins and M. Dianna Edlow

Changes in Income, 1984-89

Household Use of Financial Services Family Finances

Recent Legislation Affecting Families Current Regional Research Project

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study were much higher than numbers reported in the BLS study because of a broader definition of work-at-home. In the BLS study, people were included only if work-at-home was part of their regularly scheduled workweek.

Of all home workers in the LINK Resources study, 31 percent were selfemployed. Fifty-four percent were male, and 56 percent had a college degree. Average age was 40 years, and mean hours per week worked at home was 17. Eighty percent were married, and 51 percent had children under age 18 in the household; 23 percent had a child under age 6. Average household income was $50,400.

Heck examined the prevalence of working at home using a sample of 6,744 people from the 1984 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (3). The study found that 5 percent of workers were engaged in home-based employment, which was defined as situations in which the worker did not travel to work or the amount of travel time varied (such as when workers travel as part of their jobs and work out of home offices). Home-based workers were more likely to be white, have a lower level of family income, have a high school diploma or more, and work shorter hours than other workers. Older people, those without children, those with young children under age 6, self-employed workers, and farmers were also more likely to be involved in home-based employment than others.

Although these studies provided information on some employment located in the home, more needs to be known about home-based workers that either own their own business or are paid by an outside employer.

Data

The NE-167 Regional Research Project, "At-Home-Income-Generation: Impact on Management, Productivity, and Stability in Rural/Urban Families," was supported by the Agricultural Experiment Stations of Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Lincoln University (Missouri), New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Vermont, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

To identify home-based workers, a random sample of households was selected from telephone listings in each of the nine States (6). Screening calls were made in February 1989 by the Iowa State University Statistical Laboratory to find households with at least one worker based in the home. For each State, the goal was 100 completed interviews. A home-based worker was defined as a person age 18 or older who had worked 6 or more hours per week or a minimum of 312 hours during the previous 12 months. Although the homebased worker could have performed some part of the job outside the home, the home

served as the only office from which this work was arranged.

Telephone interviews were conducted with 899 households with a home-based worker in March and April 1989. Data were collected on home-based workers' socioeconomic characteristics, management behavior and strategies, and the relationship between work and family. Weights were devised to account for the populations in each of the nine States. Results reported in this study are based on weighted data. A value for income was imputed in all cases where it was not reported.

Because of varying definitions of work-at-home, the results of this study are not comparable with those of the LINK Resources study, which does not focus solely on home-based workers but includes all people who work at home at least part of the time. Results reported here are more comparable with the BLS analysis on people who worked exclusively at home and the Heck study, which examined people who did not commute to work on a regular basis.

Occupations of home-based workers:

Marketing and sales - door-to-door or home salespeople, real estate and insurance agents, and mail order businesses.

Contracting - carpenters, painters, roofers, masons, and electricians. Mechanical and transportation - plumbers, locksmiths, radio and television repair people, and auto mechanics.

Services - beauticians, hairdressers, pet groomers, fitness instructors, and elder and child-care providers.

Crafts and arts - potters, clothing designers, jewelrymakers, weavers, and teachers of these crafts and arts.

Professional and technical - lawyers, therapists, engineers, accountants, authors, teachers, architects, and consultants.

Clerical and administrative support - secretaries, bookkeepers, data processors, and tax preparers.

Management - real estate managers and special events coordinators. Agricultural products and sales - sellers of flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

Nature of Home-Based Work

Table 1. Nature of home-based work

Of the home-based workers in the nine States, 75 percent had their own business and the remaining workers were paid by an outside employer (table 1). There were occupational differences between home-based business owners and paid workers. (See box, p. 3, for example of each occupation.) Of workers paid by an outside employer, 53 percent were engaged in marketing or sales. Such work typically involved a person selling an employer's products or services door to door, on the telephone, or from the home. Professional/technical and clerical/ administrative support work were the next most common occupations (13 percent and 11 percent) of paid workers.

No occupational category dominated for home-based business owners. Eighteen percent were contractors, such as carpenters or electricians, and 16 percent did mechanical or transportation work. Fifteen percent each did sales or marketing work; service work, which includes home child care; and work involving crafts or art. These occupations of home-based workers differ from those in the BLS study because of dissimilar classification of occupation; the BLS study included many professional occupations under services.

The average number of hours worked per week in home-based work was 36 for business owners and 39 for paid workers. This represents the average for 50 weeks per year; some people may work more hours per week for fewer weeks per year. Average hours worked per week was somewhat skewed. Twenty-nine percent of paid workers and 37 percent of business owners worked less than 20 hours per week in home-based employment, yet 58 percent of paid workers and 43 percent of business owners worked more than 40 hours per week in home-based employment. The average number of years in home-based employment was 9 for business owners and 8 for paid workers.

In addition to work-at-home, many home-based workers were employed in other jobs outside the home. A higher proportion of business owners than paid workers were employed outside the home (28 percent vs. 19 percent). It appears that home-based work is a complement to outside work for some rather than an alternative.

A majority (56 percent) of home-based workers had paid or nonpaid assistance with their work. Data collected on assistance with work included both household members and nonmembers for business owners but only household members for paid workers. A larger percentage of business owners than paid workers had assistance with their work (61 percent vs. 41 percent).

Of business owners receiving assistance with their work, 70 percent had at least one paid employee; 24 percent had four or more. Sixty-five percent of business owners also had help with their business from people who were not reimbursed. This uncompensated assistance was most often from family members. Of paid workers receiving assistance from household members, this help was uncompensated in 73 percent of households; in only 10 percent of households was it always compensated.

Characteristics of Home-Based Workers

The majority (58 percent) of homebased workers were male (table 2). This differs from the BLS study that found the majority of people working exclusively at home were female. The difference may reflect the earlier data (1985) used in the BLS study. In recent years, there has been a trend for more men than women to enter home-based employment (5). Almost no difference in gender existed between home-based workers that owned their own business and those paid by an outside employer.

Average age of home-based workers was 44; 30 percent were over age 50. Horvath hypothesized that work-at-home may be an attractive option for older people who may find a daily commute very tiring (4). Workers who owned their own business were older than those paid by an outside employer. Thirtythree percent of business owners were age 50 or over, compared with 23 percent of those paid by an outside employer.

Most home-based workers had a high school diploma. A large proportion (31 percent) had a college degree. Heck also found that education was positively related to the probability of home-based employment. Home-based workers paid by an outside employer had a higher level of education than those owning their own business: 40 percent and 28