Growth in self-employment is established trend

by Susie Hughes at 13:38 25/07/16 (News on Business)

A recent report from the Office for National Statistics concluded that the growth in self-employment is an established trend predating the economic downturn of 2008-09.

It revealed that the level of self-employed workers in the UK increased from 3.8 million in 2008 to 4.6 million in 2015. The article found that self-employed older workers are much more likely than their younger colleagues to make the transition from full-time to part-time working, and account for a larger portion of the growth in this employment mode in recent years. This rarely involves a change of industry and occupation, and is consistent with workers managing their retirement in a different manner. A larger number of workers appear to be choosing part-time self-employment rather than retiring directly. Advertisement Some trends are common to both full- and part-time self-employment. Both groups of workers have seen their age profile get markedly older in recent years, both are increasingly concentrated in the finance and business services industry (which now accounts for nearly 25 per cent of full-time, and nearly 30 per cent of part-time self-employment). Both groups are relatively concentrated in higher occupational groups and in the South East and London, with full-time self-employed workers in particular becoming more concentrated in the capital. The article suggests that self-employed workers are broadly content with their position in the labour market, with little evidence of older part-time self-employed workers wanting a full-time position, of job search or dissatisfaction with being self-employed. Among younger and mid-aged self-employed women, the growth in self-employment has not been accompanied by a rise in the number of people who would prefer to work full-time, nor a clear uptick in the number of workers seeking an alternative job. Among younger part-time self-employed men, however, the picture is less certain. Larger portions of these workers display a greater degree of dissatisfaction with their part-time status and appear to have come directly from unemployment – possibly indicating a choice made under economic hardship. It is among these workers that evidence of under-employment is strongest. Tweet -- If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is free and easy - see 'Join Shout99'. - Susie Hughes © Shout99 2016

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