We have looked at the national statistics for self-employment in the UK. But each sector is different. Self-employment in the wedding photography industry is probably very different from being a self-employed contractor on a building site.
Apply Your Thinking:
Research what self-employment in your prospective industry looks like
We now want you to research self-employment in your field: is it a form of labour that is widely used? How many people are self-employed in the field? What are the working conditions like? What are the good – and bad! – sides of self-employment in your field?
You are best prepared to understand what it means to become self-employed in your field if you understand both the objective data (e.g. income levels, percentage of self-employment in the field, risks that you would need to protect yourself against) as well as what it feels like to work as a solo self-employed worker. This means in your research for this task, you should not just google the statistics but also go out and see if you can find professionals to speak to and hear their story.