Latest Government stats on home working from the Labour Force Survey , published June 2014, show that 4.2 million UK workers are now home based, that’s just short of 14% of those in work. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) started collecting the figures on homeworking back in 1998 and since then there’s been an increase from 11.1% to 13.9% of the working population who are classed as home workers.
Also amongst the most recent findings are that:
- two-thirds of home workers are self-employed, one-third are employees;
- one-third of home workers say they work at home or within their home grounds, the remaining two-thirds use home as a base while working on client premises or elsewhere for a significant part of the time;
- on average home workers earn a higher hourly rate than the population as a whole;
- home workers include a greater proportion of older (aged 50+) workers than non-home based jobs.
Gender Differences in Home Working
Overall two-thirds of home-workers are men, one-third women. However if we compare the figures for those who work primarily at home vs those who just have home as their base the proportions differ significantly. For those who carry out their work at home the split is around half and half male to female, whereas those who see their customers elsewhere are much more likely to be male.
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Of those who work entirely within their home and grounds, the most popular jobs for men and women are:
| Men | Women | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farmers | Childminders and related occupations | |||
| Property, housing and estate managers | Other administrative occupations | |||
| Programmers and software development professionals | Book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks | |||
| Sales accounts and business development managers | Personal assistants and other secretaries | |||
| Managers and Proprietors in other services | Property, housing and estate managers |
For those who use home as a base but see their customers elsewhere the most popular jobs are:
| Men | Women | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farmers | Childminders and related occupations | |||
| Property, housing and estate managers | Other administrative occupations | |||
| Programmers and software development professionals | Book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks | |||
| Sales accounts and business development managers | Personal assistants and other secretaries | |||
| Managers and Proprietors in other services | Property, housing and estate managers |
See the full report Characteristics of Home Workers 2014
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