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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Americans Have Habit Of Taking Their Work Home In Many Cases, Study Shows, Workers Didn’t Get Extra Pay

Associated Press

More than 21 million Americans did some work at home as part of their primary jobs last year, the Labor Department reported last week.

About half were salaried or hourly workers who were not paid for their effort, the report said. The rest were either self-employed or salaried or hourly workers who were compensated.

The findings are from a supplement to the May 1997 Current Population Survey, a poll of the nation’s labor force. The last similar report the department compiled was in May 1991, and since then the number of people doing job-related work at home increased by 1.5 million. And the number who were paid for it almost doubled.

In 1997, 3.6 million salaried and hourly workers received special pay for work they did at home. Only 1.9 million were compensated in 1991.

The number of people who simply “took work home from the office” last year without extra pay was 11.1 million, a slight dip from 12.2 million six years ago. Employees in the service and manufacturing industries were most likely to take work home with them and not get paid for it - teachers most of all.

Women and men were equally likely to work at home. In general, more than 70 percent of people doing job-related work at home came from married households, both with and without children.