Self-employment in the UK has risen dramatically. In 1975, 8% of workers were self-employed; this had increased to 12% by 2000, and 14% by 2019. This increase has been entirely driven by a rise in ‘solo self-employment’ – own-account workers without employees – who now account for 85% of the self-employed.

At this event, we discussed findings from a new report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation as part of this review, that explores the nature of the rise of self-employment, what it tells us about the state of our labour market, and how the Covid-19 crisis has affected the self-employed.