A recent report from the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) revealed that as of January 2020, 5 million people were self-employed. This has risen by 4% since 2018, and 2.26% from 2019.
Incredibly, between January and May 2020, 200,000 more people have become self-employed, meaning self-employment has risen by 4% in the middle of a global pandemic.
Freelancers in highly-skilled occupations have driven growth in the UK self-employment sector over the past decade, according to a report from IPSE.
The data showed that in 2018, 4.4 million of the 4.8 million people in the UK who were self-employed worked completely alone, and did not have any employees.
Freelancers driving self-eployment increase
Around 2 million of these workers were freelancers in highly-skilled managerial, professional and technical occupations.
This group had grown by 46% from 1.4 million in 2008, a greater increase than the self-employed sector as a whole, which grew by 34% over the same period of time. Over the last decade, there has been a 63% increase in highly skilled female freelancers.
In 2019, men made up over two-thirds (3,200,000) of those who were self-employed .
The highest proportion of male freelancers work in the construction industry (25%), but they are also represented in a range of other roles, including:
- Road transport drivers (9%)
- Functional managers and directors (7%)
- Teaching and education professionals (7%)
- Agricultural and related trades (6%)
- Artistic, literary and media occupations (5%)
- Managers and proprietors in other services (5%)
- Information technology and telecommunications professionals (5%)
The highest proportion of female freelancers work in the health and social industry (15%), but are also represented in a range of other roles including:
- Professional, scientific and technical activities (14%)
- Artistic, literary and media occupations (8%)
- Hairdressers and related services (7%)
- Managers and proprietors in other services (6%)
- Elementary cleaning occupations (6%)
- Teaching and educational professionals (5%)
Women driving self-employment increase
Although there are more self-employed men than women, the rate at which women are becoming self-employed is much faster.
Between October 2019 and January 2020, 108,000 women became self-employed, as opposed to the 92,000 men who became self-employed. That’s 16,000 (8%) more women than men.
The most common reasons for their decision to move to self-employment were freedom, flexibility and choice.
84% of self-employed females said that when they worked was a big factor in their choice and 83% said having more freedom was important.
73% said self-employment would enable them to have a better work-life balance.
Chris Bryce, chief executive of IPSE, said:
“The [2018] report goes a long way to dispelling the myth that activity in the self-employment sector is occurring mainly in the ‘platform’ or ‘gig’ economies, when the real growth is in highly-skilled freelancer occupations.
“People value flexibility, which is one reason why more people than ever before are moving into freelancing and taking the opportunity to fit their work around their lives.”
Advances in technology have also made it more possible for people to work for themselves.
People are now managing their businesses like never before, using cloud software and video conferencing on their smartphones and laptops.
Young people are being encouraged to be more entrepreneurial and are inspired by large brands such as Gymshark that was started entirely through social media by a 19-year-old with no prior business experience.
Social media influencers are also considered to be self-employed, making their money through paid sponsorships and advertising in their posts online.
Contact us to discuss self-employment.