The New Face of Self-employment is Female

The new self-employed are more likely to be female. New research from the Resolution Foundation, carried out by IPSOS Mori, finds considerable differences between the new self-employed, who started to work for themselves in the past five years, and those who started earlier. The new self-employed are increasingly female and more reluctant than the longer-term self-employed.

Key findings:

  • 44 per cent of the new self-employed in lower-skilled occupations would rather be an employee, more than double the proportion (21 per cent) of more highly-skilled people.
  • One in four (24 per cent) of those who have been self-employed for less than five years say they have been prevented from obtaining personal credit or loans due to being self-employed, in contrast to 11 per cent of those who have been self-employed for five years or more.
  • When asked whether being self-employed has ever prevented them from securing a tenancy, 12 per cent of the newly self-employed said yes, while only 3 per cent of those self-employed for five years or more experienced similar difficulties.
  • Compared with the longer established self-employed, those who have moved into this position over the past five years are also much more likely to be women. 37 per cent of the new self-employed are female versus 27 per cent of those self-employed for five years or longer.

The survey is part of a major investigation into the changing face of self-employment in Britain being carried out by the Resolution Foundation which will be published next month.

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