Self-Employment In UK In 2014

In 2014 there were 4.6m self-employed people in the UK accounting for 15% of people in work. It is highest percentage it has been at any point in the last 40 years. There were also 356,000 employees who had a second job in which they were self-employed.

The rise in total employment since 2008 has been among the self-employed. It is largely due to fewer people leaving self-employment than in the past. Self-employed people tend to be older than employees. Self-employment among the over 65s has more than doubled in the past 5 years to reach nearly half a million.

Average median income from self-employment has fallen by 22% since 2008-9. In 2012-13 average median income from self-employment was £207 according to the Family Resource Survey. It should be noted that household surveys tend to underestimate income from self-employment. Income figures also include individuals who made a loss whereas employed people do not get paid a negative figure. Self-employed people do not get the same benefits as employed people in terms of sick pay, paid leave or maternity pay.

London had the highest concentration of self-employed people at 17.3% followed by the south west on 16.6% and the south east at 15.8%. The north east had the lowest concentration at 10.8%.

Across Europe the country with the highest rate of self-employment was Greece with 32%. Italy came next with 23.6% and Romania with 20.4%. The high figure for Greece is partly because of the high proportion of people self-employed in agriculture and the effects of tourism. The lowest rates were in Luxembourg with 8.1%, Denmark with 9% and Estonia with 9.4%. The EU average self-employment rate was 15.2% very close to the 15% in the UK. The UK has seen the third largest percentage rise in self-employment since 2009 at 19% behind Slovenia at 23% and Estonia at 20%. These countries are small in comparison and the average percentage change in the EU as a whole was -0.1%.

Unemployment Down To 2.12m

The unemployment rate continued to fall during March to May 2014 to reach 6.5%, the lowest since October to December 2008. There were 2.12m people unemployed, 121,000 fewer than December 2013 to February 2014.

The employment rate was 73.1% up from 71% on last year but higher than the pre-downturn peak of 73% for 2008. The number of employees increased by 552,000 to reach 25.83m. The number of self-employed people increased by 404,000 to 4.58m. The number of unpaid family workers increased by 13,000 to reach 117,000. The number of people on government supported training and employment schemes fell by 40,000 to 120,000.

Hours worked per week were 987m march to May 2014, up 14.1m from December to February and up 35m on a year earlier. People working full time worked on average 37.6 hours/week, part-time workers worked on average 16 hours/week. There was little change on a year earlier.

There were 33.05m workforce jobs in March 2014, an increase of 380,000 from December and 1.08m on a year earlier. Workforce jobs is a different concept from employment.

Average regular weekly earnings in May 2014 was £449/week and average total pay was £478/week (both before tax and deductions). Regular pay increased 0.7% over the year, total pay increased 0.3% over the year. Consumer inflation over the year to May 2014 was 1.5%.

Claimant Count figures show that for June 2014 there were 1.04m people claiming JSA, down 36,300 from May 2014 and 418,900 on the year. Claimant Count measures the number of people claiming benefits as a direct result of unemployment. Unemployment measures people without a job seeking work in previous four weeks and available to start in two weeks, and those out of work but have found a job and are waiting to start within two weeks.

There were 648,000 vacancies for April to June 2014, up 30,000 from January to March 2014 and 117,000 from last year.

Unemployment Down In October

The unemployment rate fell to 7.8% in October, a fall of 0.2% on May to July. The employment rate (16-64) was 71.2% up 0.1% on May to July. The number of unemployed was 2.51m, down 82,000 on the three monthly comparison and 128,000 on the year. The inactivity rate was 22.6%, or an economically inactive population of 9.07m (16-64) up 60,000 on the three months previous but down 249,000 on last year. There were 489,000 job vacancies for September to November 2012 or 1.8 vacancies per 100 employee jobs. In terms of duration, 1.16m people had been unemployed for up to 6 months, 442,000 people had been unemployed for between 6 and 12 months and 904,000 had been unemployed for over 1 year and 449,000 people had been unemployed for over 2 years. Total hours worked amounted to 949m for August to October 2012 and average weekly hours worked were 32.1. Earnings or payment for work done before tax and other deductions averaged (incl. bonuses) £471/week total pay and £443/week regular pay. The number of employees reached 25.12m, the self-employed totalled 4.2m, unpaid family workers reached 111,000 and the number of people on government schemes totalled 171,000.

Slowdown In Labour Market Decline

The ONS Labour Market Survey for December reports there have been falls in the number of jobs, lower employment, increases in redundancies and rising unemployment ever since the start of the recession but in the third quarter of 2009 the labour market decline has slowed.

The number claiming Jobseekers Allowance in November was 1.63 million, a decrease of 6,300, the first monthly fall since February 2008. The number of vacancies in the three months to November was 432,000.

The employment rate for August to October was 72.5% at 28.93 million, up 53,000 and there was the smallest quarterly increase in unemployment rates, at 7.9%, since Spring 2008. The number of unemployed was 2.49 million. The number of redundancies fell 42,000 to 191,000 people, a rate of 7.7 per 1000 employees. The inactivity rate was 21% and there were 7.99 million economically inactive people of working age. The Average Earnings Index (AEI), including bonuses, went up by 1.5% on last year. The AEI excluding bonuses went up 1.7% on the year. Nine stoppages lost a total of 175,000 working days. Over the year to October, 90 stoppages lost 374,000 working days.

There were 30.86 million workforce jobs in September which is down 127,000 over the quarter and 649,000 on the year. Construction saw the largest decreases. The manufacturing industries had 2.61 million employee jobs in the three months to October. There were 26.36 million employee jobs and 4.2 million self-employment jobs.

Productivity for the whole economy for the second quarter of 2009 was down by 3.9% on the previous year. Unit wage costs for the whole economy were 5.7% higher for the same period. Manufacturing productivity was down by 0.9% and unit wage costs up by 3% for three months to October.