"Self employment has shown large increases in the 12 months to August 2003. This article investigates the movements and seeks to identify which groups are causing such changes. The article set the recent changes in context with a brief history section. Looking at the latest year, sex, working time, age, industry, occupation and some regional aspects have been assessed. Recent changes in the number of self employed have been experienced by both men and women working full and part-time. Industries that have dominated the increase are real estate, renting and other business activities; and construction. Also, increases have been seen in professional; associate professional and technical; and skilled trade occupations. The increases in the banking, finance and insurance sector seem to be the driving force behind the recent upswing in the national trend, whereas the increase in construction appears to be part of an existing trend."

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