Changing picture of self- employment in Britain -Working paper of the ESRC on Micro-Social Change-

Abstract

This paper traces the self-employment story in Britain from 1960 to the present and, using lifetime employment history data from the British Household Panel Survey, examines changes in the flows of individuals into and out of self-employment. The data suggest that the large increase in self-employment in the 1980s was due to significant increases in the inflow rate, while an increase in the outflow rate in the late 1980s and early 1990s has stopped this trend. The relationship between self-employment and age is also examined. Data on industry worked in are used to illustrate the changing structure of the self-employed and those in wage employment, and data from Waves 1 and 5 of the BHPS are used to examine male and female self-employment in the 1990s.