According to figures published this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people becoming self-employed is rising sharply, with nearly 150,000 individuals starting up as their own boss towards the end of 2013.
ONS figures show that in the three months to the end of November, 92,000 people became self-employed on a full-time basis, compared with only 30,000 in the previous three months.
Meanwhile, the trend was even stronger among part-time workers, with 54,000 starting up on their own over the period, a massive rise from only 3,000 in the preceding three months.
The main reasons given for this explosion of self-employment are that it has become much cheaper and easier to set up a business, while advances in technology mean that often, all that is needed to run an organisation is a telephone and laptop with a good internet connection.
People wanting to run their own show are also attracted to buying a franchise, with the British Franchise Association reporting that the sector has seen a 20 per cent increase in turnover over the last five years to an annual rate of £13.7bn, employing some 561,000 people, of whom 250,000 are full-time.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, the increase in self-employment is also coming from firms in the private sector attempting to cut costs by employing consultants and freelancers when they need them rather than employing someone in the role full-time.
However, according to David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, the rise in the self-employed, particularly the part-timers, could be a factor in the UK’s falling productivity, as these could be people who have lost their jobs but prefer not to admit to being unemployed.