Characteristics and practices of home-based workers

Using data collected by a nine-state regional research project, cluster analysis generates nine clusters of home-based workers from 853 usable cases. The clusters are named for their distinguishing characteristics as follows: Employed Outside the Home; Low Intrusion; Female Wage Workers; See Clients at Home; Lack of Health Insurance; Female Business Owners; Isolated; Two-earner Households; and Male One-earner Households. Ninety percent of the home-based workers are covered by health insurance, 44% are covered through another job. Female home-based workers comprise 41% of the total sample and earn net home-based work incomes below the sample mean. The clusters with the highest net income are predominately male and in marketing/sales, mechanical/transportation, and contractor occupational categories. Recommendations for prospective home-based workers are made.This article reports results from the Cooperative Regional Research Project, NE-167, entitled, At-Home Income Generation: Impact on Management, Productivity and Stability in Rural/Urban Families, partially supported by the Cooperative States Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Experiment Stations at the University of Hawaii, Iowa State University, Lincoln University (Missouri), Michigan State University, Cornell University (New York), The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Utah State University, and the University of Vermont. Authors are listed alphabetically and have contributed equally to this publication.Her research interests include home-based work, social aspects of clothing, and consumer purchase behavior.Her research interests include farm family financial management, home-based work, and housing expenditures.