Self-employed, Small Businesses provide most jobs worldwide –ILO

A new International Labour Organization (ILO) ground-breaking study  has revealed that seven in 10 workers are self-employed or in small businesses, a finding that has significant implications for employment and enterprise support policies world-wide.

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According to the report, self-employment, micro and small enterprises play a far more important role in providing jobs than previously believed.

Data gathered in 99 countries found that these so-called ‘small economic units’ together account for 70 per cent of total employment, making them by far the most important drivers of employment.

The findings ILO said have “highly relevant” implications for policies and programmes on job creation, job quality, start-ups, enterprise productivity and job formalization, which, the report says, need to focus more on these small economic units.

The study also found that an average of 62 per cent of employment in these 99 countries is in the informal sector, where working conditions in general tend to be inferior, (i.e. a lack of social security, lower wages, poor occupational safety and health and weaker industrial relations). The informality level varies widely, ranging from more than 90 per cent in Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Madagascar to less than five per cent in Austria, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam and Switzerland.

The information is published in a new ILO report, Small matters: Global evidence on the contribution to employment by the self-employed, micro-enterprises and SMEs.