The real estate industry has seen a sharp annual decline in those who are self-employed, analysis from Dolan Accountancy has revealed.
Overall, there are approximately 4.3 million self-employed workers in the UK, contributing around £278bn to the economy each year.
Dolan Accountancy analysed the latest ONS data to reveal which industries are seeing the biggest changes in self-employment.
The data shows there was a 3% decrease in self-employed workers year-year.
In total, there were 4,250 self-employed workers in March 2024, compared with 4,373 in the same period before.
The real estate industry is one of the industries hardest hit by falling numbers of self-employed, having seen the third-largest decline in the past year.
The number of self-employed workers has fallen 20% in the past year while the number of those working on a fully employed basis has climbed by 16%,
The construction sector witnessed a small growth in self-employment, increasing by 5% in the past year.
The construction sector also continued to have the highest number of self-employed workers than any other sector, reaching a high of 773 in 2024; the highest since pre-pandemic levels.
The Finance and Insurance sector has seen the largest decline in the past year.
Overall, the sector has had a 24% decline in self-employed since March 2023.
Zeeshan Anwar, head of compliance at Dolan Accountancy, said: “Self-employed workers are a significant part of our economy.
“The numbers naturally reflect the aftermath of the pandemic but more needs to be done to retain and support the self-employed across all sectors.
“The self-employed have experienced ongoing challenging financial conditions.
“With persistent low incomes, and rising costs, these pressures are affecting their wellbeing and they need to continue to be supported.”
Anwar added: “The new Labour government plan to strengthen rights and protections for self-employed workers, including the right to a written contract, action to tackle late payments, and extending health and safety and blacklisting protections, we would hope to see more support for the self-employed.”
