Outcomes Beginner Reading Text

Page 74 Unit 8: Homeworkers

HOMEWORKERS

Work is changing. Lots of people travel to an office or factory every day, but more people
now work at home – and the number of homeworkers is growing fast. There are maybe 39
million in India and 4.2 million in the UK. In Argentina, 1 ____________ of people work at
home one day a week or more.

There are two kinds of homeworkers. Some people make things. Most homeworkers in India
and Cambodia 2 ____________ . Other people work for a company, but sometimes work at
home and use the internet or phone. In Europe, there is a law that anyone can work at home
for half a day a week. And homeworking is 3 ____________ for companies. Stanford
University studied a Chinese company called Ctrip. The homeworkers at Ctrip did 13% more
work!

Other people, called freelancers, do work for lots of different clients and companies. These
people are often 4 ____________ , website designers, or project managers. There are around
13 million freelancers in Mexico.

Most people like working at home because they don’t need to 5 ____________ to work,
because it’s good for family life, and because they can work when and how they like. 25% of
UK home workers like 6 ____________ when they work.

Some people think working at home is 7 ____________ because you don’t see anyone all
day. Also, sometimes people don’t have space in their home – they need to work in a café. In
the UK, only 26% of home workers have an office. 36% do their work in 8 ____________ ,
13% work in the kitchen, 9 ____________work in bed – and a few work in 10 ____________