Stats New Zealand: 144,000 New Zealanders are self-employed contractors
There are approximately 144,000 New Zealanders working as self-employed contractors according to the published Stats New Zealand figures (07/2019). This number equals to over 5 percent of all employed people in New Zealand.
“There is considerable interest in contracting, given the perceived trend towards a ‘gig economy’ where people increasingly work on short-term contracts or freelance jobs,” explains Labour Market Statistics Manager Scott Ussher.
“However, the challenge in identifying how many people work as contractors is that the distinctions between employees, self-employed contractors, and other types of self-employed people are not always clear-cut.”
Therefore, the survey asked service providers whether or not they worked as contractors in their main job or not in order to create a distinction.
According to the survey results, 7 percent of employed men and 4 percent of employed women are working as contractors. Even though those identifying as self-employed make up a small amount of the total New Zealand workforce, they are more common in certain industries.
New Zealand’s top four industry for self-employment:
14%: Professional, scientific, technical, administrative, and support services.
13%: Rental, hiring, and real estate services.
13%: Information media and telecommunications
12%: Construction
According to contractors answers nine out of 10 said they are satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs. In addition, nine out of 10 contractors said they would prefer to continue being self-employed rather than have a paid job working for someone else.
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This article was published in the Zealancer-News 63.