Almost 4.2 million people were registered as self-employed over the three months to April, the highest figure since records began in 1992, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
That number also represents a rise of 84,000 over the previous three month, a surge which appears to reflect the difficulty of gaining permanent roles with the result that people are taking on short terms roles such as nannies and cleaners.
Gerwyn Davies, labour market policy adviser at employment group the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), said: “A rise in self-employment may, in itself, be a good thing, however previous analysis from the CIPD found that the recent rise was less a sign of a resurgent enterprise culture, and more evidence of a growing army of part-time ‘odd jobbers’ desperate to avoid unemployment.”
Meanwhile public sector employment dropped to its lowest level in nine years in April, falling by 39,000 between February and April to 5.9 million, the lowest total since March 2003. Private sector employment increased by 205,000, the second-strongest three-month figure in 13 years.
The overall UK jobless total dropped 51,000 to 2.61 million, but the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2%.
