Around 5.6 million people in the UK are now working from home or other external locations, according to analysis of the Labour Force Survey from the Office for National Statistics.
Its findings show the number of homeworkers has risen to 3.1 million from 2.3 million in 1997, and the percentage of teleworkers has risen from 4% to 8% during the same period. Just 63,000 of the 2.4 million teleworkers identified in the survey mainly work from home.
The majority of teleworkers (62%) are self-employed, and around two-thirds are men. While the numbers of both male and female teleworkers has increased over the past 10 years, men experienced the highest rate of growth.
Figures show that teleworking is most prevalent in the construction industry, but the highest rate of home-based working is found in banking, finance and insurance.
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Other findings reveal that teleworking is more common among older workers, and that nine in 10 teleworkers are in managerial, associate professional and technical and skilled trades.
