Self-employment: Deviation or the norm?

Abstract

In many countries self-employment has increased recently. But, despite evidence that many people enter self-employment willingly out of choice, there appears to be an instinctive aversion to it, possibly based on an assumption that employment is more desirable and beneficial and is, and should be, the norm. Often using a UK viewpoint, this paper examines the history of work and suggests that, in historical terms, employment is the exception not the norm. The age of the job, it is claimed, lasted only from 1840 to 1980, but its influence continues and many government regulations and union practices are still based on the era of the big business, big labour and big government triumvirate. Therefore, if the future is not to be constrained by laws and practices designed for the past, it is important to identify the perceptions and assumptions which prevail about employment and to highlight those which are incorrect.