Working hard for the money isn't as easy as it use to be... when the cost of fuel is sky high.

Jennifer Merritt of The Wall Street Journal says, "The regular job market is fairly weak, so I think more people are saying it's not worth it to drive to work or to commute to work so they're looking for something they can do from home."

A simple web search yields dozens of offers for work at home jobs.
Merritt warns...not all of them are legit. She says, "A lot of people are looking for legitimate opportunities and they get caught up in send in $50 and we'll send you a list of work from home so the best route to go is to go through some established websites."

Like womenforhire.com, which specializes in connecting professional women with jobs...in-and-outside the home. Merritt says, "elance is a good one for freelancers of all sorts from technology to graphic arts to writers."

Convergys...West Corp..Live Ops ..."Working Solutions"..and "Arise"...
are some legit "dot-comers" Meritt says are beefing up their "at-home" employee pool right now.

Merritt says, "You can work for as little as 5 hours a week or as many as 40 hours a week, so those companies are hiring and say they plan to add several thousand new positions over the next year."

But don't expect to get rich quick. Most work-at-home customer service positions are low-paid....without benefits.

Merritt says, "The majority of these jobs are lower paying from 8 to maybe 12 dollars an hour, a few might pay 15 to $20 an hour, but most of the people who are doing this are really working on a very part time basis."

A majority of the jobs you'll find on those websites are at-home call center jobs. And a word of warning..competition for those positions are stiff.