Catching up is most common reason to work at home

Among wage and salary workers who work at home at least once per week, the most common reason is to "finish or catch up on work" (46 percent). An additional 33 percent report that they work at home because it is the "nature of the job."

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Eight percent of wage and salary workers who engage in at least some work at home do so because "business is conducted from home" and 5 percent report working at home to "coordinate work schedule with personal or family needs."

Among the self-employed who work at home, in contrast, almost half indicate the main reason for working at home is because their "business is conducted from home," with an additional 24 percent responding that it is the "nature of the job" to work at home.

These data on work at home are from a supplement to the May 2001 Current Population Survey. Find out more in "Work at Home in 2001," news release USDL 02-107.