Telework America 2000 Summary and Key Findings
Jack M. Nilles
JALA International, Inc.

October 2000

AT&T provided funding for this project

This is the Year 2000 edition of a continuing series of reports in the Telework America series covering the growth and characteristics of telework in the United States. We find that there were 2.8 million new regularly employed US teleworkers, age 18 years or older, in late July 2000, according to the national telephone survey data collected by the Behavior Research Center. The survey comprised 1,877 in-depth telephone interviews constituting a random sample of households proportionally allocated throughout the United States.

The research survey, sponsored by AT&T, indicates that while more than half of the teleworkers surveyed have been working remotely for at least three years, 2.8 million are new teleworkers with one year or less experience in teleworking. This amounts to a growth rate of 20.6 percent over last year.

However, it is important to note the difference between the studies in 1999 and 2000. The teleworker sample in 1999 included people who were regularly--as well as occasionally --employed and did some work at home, while this year the study delved deeper to focus on regularly employed teleworkers. If the growth rate found in the year 2000 study were applicable to the total number of teleworkers found in the 1999 study, that would imply a total of 23.6 million teleworkers nationwide.

The 2000 survey was based on a more rigorous definition of teleworking and concentrated on the potential impacts of working remotely, including effects on employees, employers, the environment, and traffic congestion. In addition to our finding that there were 16.5 million teleworkers, we found a clear pent-up demand for telework. This supports a projection in the study that there may be as many as 30 million regular teleworkers by yearend 2004.

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