Self-employment
Full and part-time
Self-employment plummeted in 2020 and rallied during 2022, before dipping again in Q2 2023. By May-July 2023, self-employed numbers were 14.7% (732k) lower than the quarter prior to the pandemic (Q1 2020). To set this decline in context, having peaked at 15.3% of the UK workforce (5.03 million) in November 2019–January 2020, self-employment represented just 12.9% (4.24 million) in May-July 2023.
Full and part-time self-employment (seasonally adjusted), to May-July 2023
As to the causes of the decline, a comparison of most recent quarterly (Q2 2023) workforce numbers with the pre-pandemic quarter (Q1 2020) reveals some notable demographic and employment status shifts.
Change in the number - employees and self-employed
Whilst some of the self-employment losses have come as a casualty of a general decline in overall industry workforce numbers (e.g. Manufacturing), other losses (e.g. in the Info & Comm sector and Professional, Scientific and Technical industries) appear to have been due to a shift to employment, including Fixed Term Contract (FTC) working. As such, the decline - which commenced with the impact of the pandemic – has undoubtedly been further fueled by the impact of the change in the Off-Payroll (IR35) Working protocols, implemented in April 2021.
Change in the number of employees and self-employed workers: Q2 2023 versus Q1 2020
Change in the number - year-on-year
Whilst declining by 1.8% (78k) quarter-on-quarter, self-employed numbers remained 1.5% (63k) higher in Q2 2023 than a year earlier. Not all sectors are net positive, however, with notable year-on-year (YoY) declines in Construction and Education.
-1.8% lower than Q1 2023
+1.5% higher than Q2 2022
Self-employed by gender and age
Comparing full-year 2019 and 2022 numbers, most of the decline in self-employed worker numbers has been amongst men. And, of note, the number of men aged 30-39 declined by 26% over the period.
Self-employed workers by gender and age, 2019 and 2022
