In this blog work at home jobs employment is defined as the work done for income in one’s work at home jobs, on one’s premises, or emanating from the work at home jobs /premises, with the worker’s having no office or consistent workspace elsewhere. A home-worker might be a plumber who schedules appointments from the home phone and stores tools and supplies in the garage, or a work at home jobs knitter who seldom leaves the house. A home-worker could be a Tupperware salesperson, a person running a food preparation microenterprise through an incentive provided to help empower people to rise above poverty, or a telecommuter for a large corporation. Likewise, a home-worker could be a person assembling parts for an automobile firm, an owner of a large landscaping or gardening enterprise, a person who has turned a crafts hobby into a modest income generating activity, or a person stuffing envelopes with discount coupons and mailing them for a company. In some households there is more than one home-worker or a home-worker working more than one home-based occupation.

What is not work at home jobs employment, as the authors of this book define it? Unpaid household production and "bringing work home from the office" are not included in the definition. Although numerous unpaid productive activities that take place at work at home jobs –nurturing children, preparing meals, scheduling doctor appointments–are valuable and necessary to the maintenance and development of individuals and their families, these are not considered to make a person a home-worker. In a similar mode, occasional paid-work can contribute to household income and an enhanced standard of living, but in many research investigations such activities would be outside the parameters set for defining and operationalizing the activities that constitute work at home jobs. Many investigators make distinctions between "casual" work at home jobs (short-term and perhaps low paid activities) and other activities that seem to fulfill a definition of "regular" employment.

A person who works only a few hours a year selling surplus vegetables from the garden, a person who occasionally repairs small motors or appliances for friends and neighbors, or a person who takes a time-limited job delivering phone books or advertisements would not be considered a home-worker in many studies. Individuals can choose to engage in work at home jobs for a number of reasons. In some cases, people become home-workers as a result of perceived lack of other employment options. Perhaps these are people living in economi-
cally marginal locations but wishing to stay there. Others choose work at home jobs to fulfill entrepreneurial or other creative dreams, including being their "own boss." Some people might do their paid-work at or from the work at home jobs because they see this as a better way of life, allowing more freedom and time for personal or family activities. There are likely many other reasons for being a home-worker.