Personal computers and increasingly affordable accessories such as scanners and home copy machines have made telecommuting and home-based small businesses more attractive than ever. Well, I think now there are people somewhere in the middle who really want to be a little bit of both. They want to be home with the kids, but they also need a career or need the money.
Numbers are up New networks support women making that choice.
The Employment Policy Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank, has found that one in five mothers with children under 18 do some paid or unpaid work at home, averaging 16.6 hours a week. According to 2000 U.S. Census data, nearly 60 percent of the 3.7 million women with infants under age 1 are in the labor force, almost double the 31 percent reported in 1976. I needed experienced talent, and I saw a lot of women dropping out of the work force. So I came to them and recruited them. Though studies have shown that the nearly 20 million U.S. workers who telecommuted in 1999 will grow to about 30 million by 2003, many employers remain skeptical.