Homeworking in New Zealand: Results from a Workplace Survey

Abstract

Homeworking is an important employment category often escaping public, regulatory and scholarly attention. This article, after examining the literature on homeworking, employs a 1991 New Zealand study to provide a profile of the structure and composition of the home workforce in New Zealand. The findings form this survey make particular reference to the size, casualisation, gender distribution and tasks carried out by homeworkers. Some commonly held views regarding homeworkers are supported and others dispelled. The article points to the need for further research into the conditions under which homeworkers in New Zealand are employed.