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PeoplePerHour.com booms on back of 16% increase in home working in past year.
Enterprise Nation and BT this week released their annual Home Business report showing a 16% rise in the number of Britons choosing to setup businesses at home.
The number of UK home workers now stands at 2.5 million - up from 2.1 million last year.
The internet - and websites like PeoplePerHour.com in particular - have proved pivotal to this growing trend, enabling home workers to find work and network easily with just a laptop and internet connection.
Since launching in full in September last year, PeoplePerHour.com has grown to attract more than 11,000 registered individuals offering a wide range of services including writing, design and administration.
For example, Marilyn Owen - a stay-at-home mother - decided to offer freelance writing services to businesses. PeoplePerHour.com now provides her with enough work to warrant two employees to help cope with her heavy workload.
The working from home trend isn't limited to 'mumpreneurs' or retirees looking make some extra money to counteract the effects of the recession.
Thousands of Britons with fulltime jobs are selling services outside office hours in order to supplement their income - contributing to the UK's burgeoning '5pm-9am economy.'
This is reflected in PeoplePerHour.com's user statistics: 35% of all service providers admit to already having a fulltime job.
"This year's Home Business report reinforces our view that home working is rapidly-growing in the UK," says PeoplePerHour.com founder Xenios Thrasyvoulou.
"Websites like ours are facilitating this trend. Anyone with a skill can test the market through PeoplePerHour.com. You could realistically make money through the site within hours of joining. There are no initial costs and no risks, so thousands of people are having a go."
