The number of self-employed women without employees increased almost 14 percent to 143,500 in the year to March 2021, Stats NZ said today.
"The term 'self-employed without employees' can include people who are starting their own business, sole traders, independent contractors, freelancers, or gig workers, and excludes people who employ others," labour market statistics manager Andrew Neal said.
The latest data (not seasonally adjusted) from the March 2021 quarter Household Labour Force Survey showed the number of women who were self-employed with no employees (referred to as self-employed in this story) increased by 17,500 over the year (up 13.9 percent). This coincided with a drop in the number of women in paid employment, though this drop was not statistically significant.
| Quarter | Self-employed and without employees |
| Mar-16 | 95300 |
| Jun-16 | 115500 |
| Sep-16 | 112000 |
| Dec-16 | 109600 |
| Mar-17 | 121300 |
| Jun-17 | 114000 |
| Sep-17 | 120300 |
| Dec-17 | 124800 |
| Mar-18 | 122400 |
| Jun-18 | 115400 |
| Sep-18 | 116900 |
| Dec-18 | 120700 |
| Mar-19 | 125000 |
| Jun-19 | 117500 |
| Sep-19 | 117000 |
| Dec-19 | 122900 |
| Mar-20 | 125900 |
| Jun-20 | 138100 |
| Sep-20 | 133300 |
| Dec-20 | 137400 |
| Mar-21 | 143300 |
| Quarter | Paid employee |
| Mar-16 | 1002100 |
| Jun-16 | 978800 |
| Sep-16 | 989700 |
| Dec-16 | 1017400 |
| Mar-17 | 1013000 |
| Jun-17 | 1012800 |
| Sep-17 | 1030500 |
| Dec-17 | 1048000 |
| Mar-18 | 1052200 |
| Jun-18 | 1060300 |
| Sep-18 | 1073700 |
| Dec-18 | 1066600 |
| Mar-19 | 1073000 |
| Jun-19 | 1084000 |
| Sep-19 | 1085400 |
| Dec-19 | 1096600 |
| Mar-20 | 1094000 |
| Jun-20 | 1069200 |
| Sep-20 | 1057400 |
| Dec-20 | 1076900 |
| Mar-21 | 1077900 |
The number of self-employed men reached 211,600 in the same period, up 3.5 percent, though this was also not statistically significant.
"After the challenges that COVID-19 presented this past year, employment opportunities for women are continuing to bounce back and we're seeing this in an increasing shift into self-employment," Mr Neal said.
In the March 2021 quarter, when asked about how they felt about their work, 91.0 percent of all self-employed women reported that they would prefer to continue working as they were. Only 6.4 percent of self-employed women said they would prefer to work for someone else.
Self-employment concentrated in professional and administrative services
Overall, most self-employed people worked in the professional, scientific, technical, administrative, and support services industry (22.6 percent) in the March 2021 quarter, followed by the construction industry (15.1 percent). Other industries with a high proportion of self-employed people were the agriculture, forestry, and fishing and mining industries (11.3 percent) and the arts, recreation, and other services industry (10.2 percent).
The highest number of self-employed women worked in the professional, scientific, technical, administrative, and support services industry (22.8 percent of all self-employed women). This industry includes a range of jobs from architectural engineering to computer system design to building cleaning, and other support services.
Other industries with a high number of self-employed women were the arts, recreation and other services industry (14.1 percent), which includes personal care services (for example, hairdressers), and retail trade, accommodation, and food services industry (11.9 percent).
Rising number of people in self-employment with no employees
In the year to March 2021, 8,600 more people were employed in New Zealand, making a total of 2,758,000 employed. Among them, there was an increase of 24,700 self-employed people in their main job.
The total number of self-employed people increased by 7.5 percent in the year to March 2021 to reach 355,000, the only statistically significant change among other employment statuses (which include paid employment, employers, and unpaid family work).
"People who identify as self-employed with no employees in their main job make up about 13 percent of all employed people in New Zealand," Mr Neal said.
"This is a considerable portion of the New Zealand labour force."
Apart from 15-29-year-olds, the number of women in self-employment was level across ages, whereas the number of men in self-employment tended to increase with age.
| Age group (years) | Men |
| 15-29 | 20900 |
| 30-39 | 32700 |
| 40-49 | 42400 |
| 50-59 | 51900 |
| 60+ | 63600 |
| 16400 | 25400 |
|---|---|
| 27100 | 38300 |
| 36900 | 47900 |
| 46400 | 57400 |
| 57700 | 69500 |
| Age group (years) | Women |
| 15-29 | 12700 |
| 30-39 | 28000 |
| 40-49 | 33100 |
| 50-59 | 33800 |
| 60+ | 35900 |
| 9800 | 15600 |
|---|---|
| 23500 | 32500 |
| 28700 | 37500 |
| 29100 | 38500 |
| 31800 | 40000 |
In the year to March 2021, the number of self-employed women aged 60 and above increased by 32.9 percent to reach 35,900. Other age groups recorded annual growth, though this was not statistically significant.
Self-employed people as at the March 2021 quarter
More than three-quarters of self-employed people identified as European in New Zealand (77.9 percent), followed by Asians (14.2 percent). Māori and Pacific peoples made up 9.7 percent and 2.7 percent of all self-employed, respectively.
In the year to March 2021, 14.3 percent of all employed people who identified as European were self-employed (an increase from 13.3 percent from a year ago). For Māori, this was 9.3 percent of all employed people (an increase from 7.3 percent).
Almost half of those self-employed with no employees consistently identified as managers, or chief executive officers, of their own company (51.7 percent for men and 40.3 percent for women). This was followed by professionals, and then technicians and trade workers.
In the year to March 2021, there was an increase of 18,600 more self-employed people who were managers.
