Today, on International Women’s Day, self-employed women have been praised for leading the growth in the sector when the economy needs the flexibility, talent and skills of this workforce more than ever.
The most recent ONS Labour Market Statistics (February 2023) show that women are spearheading the resurgence of self-employment in the UK, as the sector returned to its highest level since the end of 2020. The UK’s self-employed workforce now stands at 4.3m strong.
And it is self-employed women who account for the biggest growth area. The number of women working for themselves in the UK grew by 8.7 percent in Oct-Dec 2022, when compared to the same period in 2021 (from 1.459m to 1.585m). This is a 126,555 increase year-on-year.
However, these figures are still 7.6 percent lower than pre-pandemic levels.
What about self-employed men?
In stark contrast, the number of men working self-employed dropped by 0.4 percent in Oct-Dec 2022 when measured against the previous 12 months.
This marks a fall of 11,328 and a 17.7 percent decrease compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Qdos Operations Director, Nicole Slowey, commented:
“Women are spearheading the recovery of the self-employed workforce, which is needed more than ever in challenging times. Along with ideas and innovation, the flexibility and economic contribution of self-employed women are vitally important.
“Recognising and celebrating the talent, hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of the 1.5m women working for themselves in the UK should be important every day – but International Women’s Day provides an excellent platform from which to shout this.
“Today also presents an opportunity to raise awareness of the key issues impacting women working this way. Ahead of the Spring Budget this month, the government has a lot to consider – from addressing pay inequality to rethinking the spiralling cost of childcare, which stops many mothers from returning to work.”
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
