News
Issue #2002 - 09 (March 2002)
(Updated Mar. 6, 2002)

MARKET OUTLOOK & TRENDS

Number of Telecommuters Swells to 32 million in 2001; nearly 70% have Access to the Internet

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., January 28, 2001 ­ The number of at-home workers in the US market has consistently grown over the  last twenty years, according to high-tech research firm, Cahners In-Stat Group (http://www.instat.com). The growing popularity of working from home has certainly been brought 
about by changes in work attitudes and, more importantly, advancements in basic technologies. New research on U.S. telecommuters indicates that employees have more freedom than ever to set up a home office, with roughly 24% of the U.S. workforce estimated to telecommute some time during the week in 2001. This works out to be more than 30 million at-home workers. In-Stat expects this percentage to increase to 28% in 2004, growing to nearly 40 million telecommuters. 

"Though there are a large number of at-home workers in the U.S. economy, the individuals in this segment to concentrate on are those with Internet access," say Kneko Burney, Director of eBusiness Infrastructure & Services for In-Stat. "These employees are prime candidates to access remote corporate systems through VPN connections, use Internet-delivered business services and are most susceptible to crippling IT issues while at home. As a result, these users are the best targets for high-end residential broadband access and may prove to be an excellent vehicle through which to offer value-added services to corporate customers." Burney believes telecommuters could eventually become a significant issue for corporate IT departments, particularly as these employees start accessing a growing array of business 
resources online.

When looking at Internet-accessing telecommuters, In-Stat estimates there were roughly 19 million Internet-accessing telecommuters working in 2000, accounting for more than 10% of the U.S. workforce. Most of these workers were employed by small and SOHO businesses, consistent with the greater 
contribution of smaller firms to the size of the general telecommuter workforce. However, the key opportunity for technology providers lies in Internet-accessing telecommuters working in the "corporate markets" or for mid-sized and large businesses. Firms in these markets are expected to see consistent growth in the number of telecommuters they support each year, with the total number of online telecommuters growing at an average rate of 17% annually in the enterprise market, and 11% in the middle market. 

In-Stat also found:

• The SOHO business market supported an estimated 6.6 million Internet-accessing telecommuters in 2000, roughly 28% of the segment's total workforce and the small business market was home to more than 5.3 million Internet-accessing at-home workers in 2000, making up 13% of the small business workforce.
• The enterprise market supported roughly 5 million Internet-accessing at-home workers, with these 
  telecommuters making up 10% of its total workforce. The middle market is the smallest employer of online telecommuters, with these at-home workers estimated to account for 11% of the middle market workforce last year.

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Mobileinfo Comments & Advisory: We generally agree with In-Stat's findings.

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