SNG Research Brief – Broadband Impact on Household Income

Household uses of the internet are often seen as lifestyle enhancements or conveniences, such as online entertainment, social networking, paying bills, or simply browsing for information on topics of inetrest. However, a significant number of households also use the internet to generate income, ranging from small amounts of supplementary income to full time home business income.

More than entertainment and social apps

SNG’s research of more than 18,000 households shows that 89% have a personal web presence and, while the majority use this for personal or professional networking, more than 30% of these households use their web presence to generate income. Overall, more than 50% of households report that the use of broadband has enabled them to increase their household income in one way or another. 29% earn substantial supplementary income of between $1,000 and $20,000 annually, while another 12% earn more than $20,000 annually. At whatever level of additional income, it can make a huge difference to the lifestyle of most people, and households are finding ways to use the internet and their broadband connections to make it happen.

The two most obvious ways that the internet and broadband connections can be used to generate household income are teleworking and home-based businesses. These create income directly from employment and from business activities respectively. However, even excluding these households more than 41% of the remainder still generate additional household income online in amounts large and small.

It is no surprise, then, that more than 50% of households see the ability to work from home as a significant benefit of broadband, and 37% say that the opportunity to earn additional income is a very significant benefit. While there are many other lifestyle benefits from broadband that rate higher across all households, one should not underestimate the significance and impact of how many households use broadband to create household income.

When you have income generation, access to the internet with quality broadband becomes much more than a “nice to have”. Households see the value in this and community leaders need to recognize this as well. In fact, the likelihood of relocating for quality broadband is significantly higher for those generating income online compared to households that do not. These are innovative households that communities can ill-afford to lose.

Broadband enhances the workforce

While earning additional household income is significant, the majority of working households still have one or more members employed at jobs, either at an employer establishment or by teleworking. Having access to quality broadband helps households improve their employment in two important ways. First, broadband provides access to online training and education for enhancing skills and learning new ones. Second, with access to a world of opportunities the internet helps people find better jobs, including the ability to telework rather than relocate.

More than 45% of households use the internet for education or training courses. Of these, 45% strongly agree that online education provides access to more learning opportunities and more than 30% say that online training enabled the completion of a degree or certification. It is significant that broadband can make such a potential difference to the livelihood of one in seven households.

Of those households that had a member finding new employment, 73% said that using the internet helped them to gain better employment in higher-skill or higher-wage jobs, with 20% of those households using telework.

Broadband enables people to enhance their skills wherever they live and to find better employment while remaining in their community. These benefits of broadband do not impact every household since not everyone is equally motivated to follow these paths, but broadband makes it possible for those who do.

See what broadband means for a rural county and how they got the support and funding to build the digital infrastructure they need to thrive – Custer County Broadband Impact and Market Assessment.

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