E-work has been adopted by 27 million employers across Europe.

Almost half of all European employers use technology to carry out work at a distance, according to the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) at the University of Sussex.

Ursula Huws, IES associate fellow, directed the research.

She said: "The outlines of the information economy in Europe are starting to appear and we are now seeing the emergence of a knowledge sector.

"Information and communication technologies open up new choices for employers to import the people or to export the work. In the process, these new opportunities create employment in under-developed regions."

The survey was carried out in 17 languages and covered more than 7,000 places of work in 18 European countries.

Employers were asked about the use of electronic delivery of business services by both employees and freelance staff.

The results showed the popular image of a fully home-based teleworker to be rare, practiced by only 1.4 per cent of employers. But many areas of business were found to use communications technology as a work tool.

The creative and computer industries lead the way in adopting e-work to develop projects, with management, training and human resource functions also rating highly as users.

Ms Huws said: "The research showed one in ten employers has realised the potential of new technology to allow workers to rove from one location to another or alternate between home and office while keeping in touch with base through a modem.

"We also found one in 20 employers has bridged geographical boundaries by using what we call telesubbies - electronically-linked sub-contractors in a different country."

The survey is part of a three-year project, funded by the European Commission, called EMERGENCE (Estimation and Mapping of Employment Relocation in the New Communications Environment).

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