With the jobs market at competitive as it is at the moment, lots of women have opted out of traditional routes into work and have gone freelance. It makes sense – if you can’t find a job, then why not register yourself as a business owner and take matters into your own hands, right?
Erm - maybe not. Before you consider taking the plunge and becoming self-employed, check out these slightly terrifying stats. Women earned 40% less than self-employed men in 2012 according to new figured released by HM Revenue and Customs. The Personal Income Statistics 2011-12 report showed that, while the average income for a self-employed man was a (still not great) £17,000, the equivalent for women was just £9,800. That’s less than the annual National Minimum Wage. And you thought the gender pay gap was bad in full-time, permanent employment.
The gap was widest in London last year, where women earned less than half of the £25,700 average income of self-employed men. But it’s not just a London thing – in almost every area in the country apart from London, the south-east and Scotland, self-employed women earned, on average, less than £10,000 a year, the report reveals.
General Secretary of the TUC Frances O'Grady said that ‘there may be perfectly good reasons for being self-employed, but it would be naive to think that all these workers are really budding entrepreneurs. These figures instead suggest that many employee roles are being replaced by self-employed positions. Bogus self-employment is bad news for workers because they miss out on vital rights at work – such as paid holidays and employer pension contributions – without having the advantage of being their own boss.’
So next you get jealous of your freelance mates sitting out in the park on a sunny day when you’ve got to schlep it into the office, just think about how much they might actually be struggling to stay afloat. Long days in the sun are all very well and good, but it doesn’t make the beans on toast they’ll be eating for dinner taste any more sweet.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.