Unempty Homes
Recently I started an email group for parents in my neighborhood.
Did I already post about how the opportunities for socializing explode
when you become a parent?
One thing that has taken me by surprise is
how many people are working from home. It seems like practically every
household has one member working from home at least some of the time.
This must be an exaggeration (though some households have two
work-at-home members). But it does mean a shift in perspective about a couple of things.
1. All those houses are NOT empty during the day
2. The 9-to-5 office job norm? Not so normal anymore.
3. Parents are figuring out how to do childcare, family life, and work/life balance differently, one parent at a time.
But reviewing #2, maybe it’s been that way for a while. That’s what the Bureau for Labor Statistics says in this report from 2004 :
"In May 2004, 20.7 million persons usually did some work at home as part of
their primary job,the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department
of Labor reported today. These workers, who reported working at home
at least once per week, accounted for about 15 percent of total
nonagricultural employment in May 2004, essentially the same percentage
as in May 2001."
This report is four years old now, but reports no significant change since 2001, i.e. that 15% of us work from home at least part of the week. So that office job assumption? Out the window.
Jun 10, 2008 @ 22:30:55
What side of the 9-5 fence are you falling on here? 15% is a pretty low number, but it is significant given the size of the workforce. In absence of newer data, I don’t know if you are saying that the 9-5 paradigm is out the window, or that a conjecture along those lines might be overstated given the data.
Jun 10, 2008 @ 22:31:11
What side of the 9-5 fence are you falling on here? 15% is a pretty low number, but it is significant given the size of the workforce. In absence of newer data, I don’t know if you are saying that the 9-5 paradigm is out the window, or that a conjecture along those lines might be overstated given the data.