The UK's Mirror reported recently that half of Britain's homemakers are now earning money from online work and projects. Or as the Daily Mail provocatively phrased it, "Britain’s mothers are turning into a nation of 'mousewives' - by using home computers to boost their household income during the recession."
Not sure we would have used the same nomenclature, but it's nice to see the tabloids picking up on the trend.
The articles cued off a Kodak poll of 3,000 UK moms, which revealed that over 13% were making money selling books, DVDs and other items on auction sites, and 4% were doing bookkeeping. Online market research, mystery shopping and typing also generated extra cash.
Notably, 22% of the moms felt that their sideline activities could be turned into a full-time job.
Here in the US, official up-to-date stats on home-based e-commerce are scarce (though they shouldn’t be; the Census and IRS sometimes kick out some figures), but perhaps the new administration's view of telework and greenness generally will spur the public servants to use their measuring sticks more often, and more thoroughly.
In any case, Chris and I expect home-based work of all kinds to continue to increase, even when the recession eases. If gas prices surge (not hard to imagine; they're already sloping upward again), the trend will accelerate.
For the Daily Mail piece – including the “Mousewives Top Ten Jobs” list – go here.
For the Mirror article, go here.
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