The
UK has the most home workers in Europe, with one in four employees working from
home, according to a new report.
Research
by Datamonitor reveals that last year 26m employees, almost 16 per cent of the
European workforce, spent part or all of their working month at home. Nearly 7m
of these home-workers live in the UK.
The
number of days worked from home in Europe was 2.1bn, about a 6 per cent share
of the total number of working days. The number of European home workers is
expected to rise to 40m by 2005, according to the report.
The
Netherlands is predicted to have the biggest rise in home workers of 88 per
cent, followed by Germany and Italy at 70 per cent.
Despite
these large increases, the UK will remain the home-working capital of Europe
with a projected 8.3m employees working from home by 2005.
Almost
half of European home workers work on average less than one day a week at home.
The remainder work on average between one and 2.5 days a week at home.
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The
report reveals that six out of 10 home workers are male and the vast majority
are in non-manual roles. They tend to have a higher level of education and a
bigger disposable income than the working population as a whole.
