It drives me crazy to hear people make blanket statements that all work at home jobs for moms are scams. Or that, even if there are a few legitimate work from home opportunities, at least 98% of all work at home jobs are scams. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve tried to convince people otherwise, only for them to turn a deaf ear and continue spreading foolishness.
Fighting Lies With Leads
Generalizations like these are why we work hard to post work at home job leads right here on this site. Everything from freelance writing to triage nursing by phone is represented in our leads. Although we are clear in letting you know that we can’t vouch for every single one of the work at home jobs for moms posted, it is our firm belief that we share legitimate work from home opportunities on the regular.
What Does the Federal Government Say About Making Money at Home?
While doing a little research on the origins of this so-called 98% statistic, I ran across an article written by the hardworking folks over at the WhyDoWork blog. The article observes that, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, work at home jobs do not exist…well, at least on their niche job board. This may not seem like a huge deal to some, but as much as the other niches listed there, people employed by work from home opportunities represent a growing segment of employed Americans. It is amazing, then, that this niche isn’t featured on the DOL’s site. Now, no one’s calling this a conspiracy or anything, but it’s this kind of silence that leads job seekers to believe that legitimate work at home jobs for moms are nothing short of a myth.
The U.S. Government Offers Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities
The fact is that the DOL knows all about legitimate work from home opportunities. After all, as reported in the Department of Labor’s 2009 report to congress, the Status of Telework in the Federal Government (pdf), 102,900 federal employees work from home! Among a healthy library of information available on the federal government’s website, a very informative report about medical transcription jobs clearly states that many transcriptionists work from home. Ads for medical transcription jobs and training, particularly those programs that are home based, can be found on the web. Yet when people discuss these and other work at home jobs for moms, they often do so as though this is not a reputable employment niche.
Though telecommuting jobs are not featured on their niche jobs list, detailed analyses of other other legitimate work from home jobs appearing elsewhere on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ website are:
Interpreters
Travel Agents
Freelance Writers and Editors
Data Entry Operators
Systems Analysts
Virtual Assistants
And more!
State Governments Encourage Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities
And it’s not just the federal government that’s down with work at home jobs for moms. On page 36 of the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statics’ January, 2010 Monthly Labor Review, it is reported that Virginia created a Commonwealth Office of Telework Promotion, which not only assists employers in developing special programs and projects for work at home employees, but that new legislation also provides an incentive for more employers to allow employees to work from home. So it would appear that, not only do legitimate work at home jobs for moms exist, but governmental authorities would like to see even more legitimate work from home opportunities created in the future.
Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities in Corporate America
Consider for a moment that large corporate employers, such as Jet Blue, American Airlines, AstraZeneca, Cisco Systems, S. C. Johnson & Sons and Qualcomm all offer part and full time work at home jobs for moms and others. And of these, several appear on the list of the top 10 out of 82 best companies that allow their employees to work from home. No matter how many times people say that 98% of all work at home jobs are scams, there are an estimated 2.5 million employees who are making money at home and can successfully argue in favor of legitimate work from home opportunities.
The Origins of the Myth that 98% of All Work at Home Jobs are Scams
Though I’m still looking for the first person to cite this statistic and the research that led to this conclusion, I’m not all too optimistic that this information actually exists. What I have found, however, is an ABC News broadcast detailing the underbelly of this employment sector by shining a much needed spotlight on scam artists who prey on innocent people, such as those seeking work at home jobs for moms. In the two-part video, it is stated that there’s a 54:1 ratio of shady work at home job leads. Please note that this ratio refers to advertised leads and NOT the jobs themselves. Yes, the Internet is rife with slimy leads, but this does NOT mean that 98% of all work at home jobs are scams! There is a distinct difference between job “leads” and actual jobs. People are not making this distinction, unfortunately, and I suspect that this is where the myth has taken root. See the report for yourself by watching part 1 and part 2 of this very informative video. Also notice that the special report ends with a previously scammed victim finding a work from home job. In a nutshell, the investigation uncovered that work from home opportunities are real, even though an enormous amount of advertised job leads are scams.
Others are Making Money at Home and So Can You
My point in sharing all of this with you is so that you’ll know better when people tell you that you’re wasting your time researching legitimate work at home jobs for moms. You are not. What you are doing is preparing yourself to join an intelligent group of employees who are able to save time, money and energy while making money at home. Work at home jobs for moms are part of a highly coveted employment niche…even if the federal government is slow to honor it as such.
