According to the Pew Research Center, self-employed Americans and the workers they hired accounted for 44 million jobs in 2014, or 30% of the national workforce. Hiring is more prevalent among self-employed Asians, whites and men.

Source: Three-in-Ten U.S. Jobs Are Held by the Self-Employed and the Workers They Hire | Pew Research Center

With traditional jobs increasingly likely to be designed out by technology or off-shored to low-cost countries, self-employment is bound to increase strongly in countries that provide the fiscal incentives.

This trend is particularly generalizable to the UK where there’s also a growing self-employed sector. Unfortunately, in the UK, small businesses, like the self-employed, don’t get the same deal as big businesses. Big businesses are able to lobby and, through the use of tax experts, reduce their tax bill. Typical job growth in big businesses is stacking product on a super-market shelf or a zero-hours contract. It’s well known that real job growth comes more from smaller businesses.

Surely governments should provide incentives for more people to become self-employed?

Thoughts?

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