Enterprise Nation sponsor Intuit has alerted us to an interesting piece of research by insurance company PolicyBee. Based on interviews with 2,000 freelance workers, the company produced the great infographic below.
Their research comes hot on the heels of new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that the number of self-employed people (ie, sole traders, not limited companies) has reached a high of 4.14 million, representing an 8 per cent increase on 2008, the start of the economic downturn.
Historically, around 30 per cent of self-employed people are skilled traders; but the new ONS figures show an increasing proportion of unskilled workers (around 20 per cent of the newly self-employed) and a substantial rise in the number of people from ‘office jobs’ – secretaries and PAs (think virtual assistants), communications professionals, educators, public administrators and social security and defence experts.
At least part of this shift in the composition of freelance workers could be down to the impact of public sector redundancies, with many former public sector employees taking on freelance contracts with their ex-employers. The figures suggest that the number of new freelance workers has offset job losses over the last three years by around 40 per cent.
Another way of looking at the self-employed figures
But there are other ways of looking at the stats: 60 per cent of the newly self-employed are women, for example, and 89 per cent of the newly self-employed are working fewer than 30 hours a week. Does this suggest that more mums (and dads) with young children are preferring to set up their own venture and create the flexibility they need to work around their family, rather than take part-time positions that don’t offer the same personal rewards?
Whichever way you look at it, I think there can be little doubt that it’s easier now to work independently to make the living you need than it has been for several generations. Personally, I think we’re seeing a slight shift back towards a ‘cottage industry’ economic model, with the self-employed using online technology to market and sell their product or service, both singly and collectively. I’ll even stick my neck out and say we’re entering a golden age of micro-business (much more on this in future posts).
These are exciting times for independent workers and micro-businesses and, whatever the reason they became independent, I’m pretty sure that many of the newcomers to our ranks will grasp the possibilities of self-sufficient working. As PolicyBee’s research shows, some 64 per cent would recommend freelancing to others and 50 per cent intend to carry on freelancing, whatever happens to the economy.
With thanks to Intuit for the tip and PolicyBee for the graphic.
Simon Wicks, Enterprise Nation editor
Infographic: A peep into freelancing
Thanks for an excellent article and fascinating stats.
In particular, I’d agree that being able to have a more flexible work life balance rings true with many freelance mums. Nothing beats being able to work those core school hours of 9:30/10:00 through to 2:00/2:30pm.
As many of us mums are freelancing in the artistic, literary and media professions, we’re working on projects we believe in/have a passion for, so no wonder despite the challenge of finding clients, we’d prefer to carry on.
Great topic. Look forward to seeing more of the same.
Mary
Hi Mary
Thanks for your thoughts on our infographic. We love to hear from people that are so passionate about what they do.
I’d love to interview for our PolicyBee blog as I’ve been wanting to do a piece on freelance mums.
What do you think?
Vicky – vicky.pont@policybee.co.uk (0845 872 5087)
Really interesting stats but what about coffee shop working? A lot of us do that! Plus worry if all business comes from just one client!
Hi Rickie – I suspect coffee shop working is covered by the 10.7 per cent who work from ‘somewhere else’. No doubt a reasonable number of home office workers get out and about when they can, too. No mention of sheds, though… As a fellow writer, I’d be interested to know how you’d answer the questions above.
Thanks for your comment, too, Mary. We’d be delighted if you’d like to write something for the blog. It would be interesting, for example, to have some insight into how parents of young children successfully juggle parenthood with self-employment and what tips you could offer others in the same position.
These are indeed exciting times for freelancers, and in fact a whole load of people who don’t class themselves as ‘freelance’. I wrote about it here. http://www.kindredhq.com/the-free-range-generation/.
At KindredHQ, we passionately believe that although people’s motivations for working like this are diverse, we are witnessing a real revolution in the way we view ‘work’. That’s going to have massive ramifications for traditional organisations in the future. Talented freelancers will always choose their own path
Do you agree?
Thanks for your comment, Alex. We like your site, by the way! I think choosing your own path is the essence of being an independent worker; that, and having a real passion for what you do. Technology is making it possible for so many more people. I love the way, for example, that web communities are enabling cottage industries to thrive – you only have to look at Etsy to see what an impact that’s having on craft businesses. To me, it’s an online equivalent of how people used to trade centuries ago; if you wanted to buy rope, for example, you’d go to Ropemaker Street because that’s where the ropemakers worked and traded and they all benefited from being clustered together (you still see it with the jewellers in Hatton Garden and coffee shops all over the country). Nowadays, if you want to buy craft goods, you go to Etsy. It’s the same phenomenon, but in a ‘virtual’ world, and it’s enabling thousands of people to take that big step with a greater degree of safety. You can start part-time, for instance (last week’s self-employed figures didn’t address that).
Do you possibly have a link to the Office for National Statistics report that the mentioned data is from? e.g. 4.14 million
I’d be interested in looking closer at some of the related stats.
I intially piked up the info via a CIPD report – they’ve got quite a good breakdown of the stats: http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3F9AF376-FD99-4A57-8C3E-71E145FC0311/0/5757WorkAudit2012WEB.pdf
I don’t really agree with the CIPD’s analysis of the figures; I think they’re half right, but they’re missing a lot of nuance and haven’t really looked more deeply into self-employment trends (ie, parents starting businesses as an alternative to part-time work; 5-9 businesses; the gradual increase in the numbers of self-employed over the last ten years; the ease with which one can get a small online enterprise off the ground, to name four areas they’ve overlooked). They imply the figures are a temporary blip; I see them as indicative of a longer-term trend.
Great, thanks Simon for the link and your further thoughts on these stats – very helpful!