Career Advice & News Center

Because of the nature of the issue, whenever one talks about achieving a better work-life balance, the tone is usually indignant and takes the form of a series of complaints. However, that tendency may start to vanish as Americans take a more active role in shaping their work schedules and personal lives.

New data released by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that the number of people who worked from home increased by almost 2 million between 1999 (9.5 million) and 2005 (11.3 million). Likewise, the number of those working from home exclusively increased from about 6.7 million in 1999 to 8.1 million in 2005.

"An examination of the data shows an increasing percentage of the workforce is spending at least some time working from home," said Alison Fields, chief of the Census Bureau's Journey to Work and Migration Statistics Branch.

She added, "This survey provides a better picture of the attributes of these people, as well as which professions and occupations allow them to work at home."

The report, called Home-Based Workers in the U.S.: 1999-2005, included a series of figures that describe the type of employment held as well as the characteristics of home-based employees during the time span.

Education and salary were not found to be large factors in an employee's likelihood of working from home. Only about half of home-based workers had college degrees and about the same amount earned at least $75,000 annually.

However, an individual's industry had a larger role on his or her likelihood to spend more time working away from the office. About 32 percent of home-based employees in 2005 worked in professional and related service, 12 percent in business and repair services and 10 percent in finance, insurance and real estate.