Identification and Measurement of the Self-employed in the UK

This paper presents an updated examination of self-employment, concentrating in particular on the UK. It opens with some observations about the type of person who may be suited to self-employment and then provides a commentary and analysis of empirical evidence on incidence, demographic features and social trends. The article concentrates primarily on the multifarious ways in which 'economists' have attempted to analyse this data and presents a contemporary assessment of their findings.