The working hours and happiness of the self-employed are starting to recover - five years on from the downturn induced by the pandemic, research from the University of Liverpool Management School and LSE reveals.
But the authors of the report Road to recovery: Self-employed on the mend? published today by the LSE's Centre for Economic Performance, add that there is still a significant proportion of people who would rather be in employed work, and that there are mixed experiences across different types of self-employed workers.
The report, the eighth in the series, draws on a representative sample of 1,800 individuals in the self-employed population to highlight the experiences of the self-employed during and after the pandemic.
Approximately two-thirds of respondents say their income, profits and hours now match or exceed pre-pandemic levels, and there has been an improvement in wellbeing especially among younger people.
The share wanting to switch to employee jobs has also fallen since 2023. The latest survey shows that 29% would be willing to move for the same salary - down from 41% in the previous report. But certain groups within this overall figure seem less satisfied, with around half of those self-employed people who are currently looking for an employee job, saying they would be willing to take a pay cut to make that transition.
The authors also highlight official data showing that in contrast to the rapid increase in self-employment at the turn of the century, the number of people in self-employment fell by about 800,000 during Covid and has stayed broadly stable since then.
The report returns to the issue of voting intentions. This latest survey reveals that while Labour did attract the votes of more respondents than any other single party in the July 2024 general election, fewer than half of those who had voted for Labour say they would do so again. The survey finds that the self-employed are now moving away from both major parties, and support has increased for Reform, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party.
Stephen Machin, director of CEP and co-author of the report, said: "The overall picture is at last becoming more positive. Some self-employed workers feel they have regained - or exceeded - their pre-pandemic level of economic stability. The proportion of individuals reporting difficulties in meeting basic expenses over the past month has fallen to 21% - the lowest level recorded across all eight waves of our survey. And mental health has improved, especially among the youngest in our survey. But not everyone has benefited - those working for app-based companies are more likely to report longer hours, but not necessarily more pay. And half of those who are currently looking to get out of self-employment would take a pay cut to do so."
Robert Blackburn, co-author of the report and professor of entrepreneurship at the Brett Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Liverpool, said: "The ups and downs in self-employment numbers over time seem to be driven by conditions in the labour market rather than any surge in entrepreneurship and opportunity-driven individuals. How this will be affected by the opportunities unleashed by AI and changes in the skills required in the working population is also worthy of further consideration."
Maria Ventura, co-author and assistant professor at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Our analysis shows the magnitude of the current disaffection among the self-employed with the two major political parties, and a polarisation of voting intentions driven by longstanding economic discontent and a perception that the main parties have lost touch."
- The eighth LSE-CEP survey of self-employment was carried out from 18 August 2025 to 3 November 2025. The results are based on 1,823 responses. The responses are weighted to represent the population of self-employed workers.
The full report is available here: Road to recovery: Self-employed on the mend?
