Self-employment at highest level for 40 years, says ONS

Self-employment has reached its highest level in 40 years with 4.6m working for themselves, according to statistics from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Thu, 21 Aug 2014Self-employment has reached its highest level in 40 years with 4.6m working for themselves, according to statistics from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Its data showed there were 1.1m more workers in April-June 2014 compared with January-March 2008, of which 732,000 more were self-employed.

This rise has been driven by an increase in the number of white-collar workers becoming freelance, working in roles such as management consultancy, book keeping, photography and chartered accountancy.

Of the 4.6m people who are self employed, 167,000 work in construction and building roles, 166,000 are taxi drivers and chauffeurs, and 144,000 were carpenters and joiners.

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