Abstract
The economic fall-out from the COVID-19 crisis continues to wreak serious damage in the labour market, and at the time of writing the full extent of this damage is some way from becoming apparent. One significant group of workers who have been very badly affected by the economic shock resulting from ‘lockdown’ are the self-employed. In previous analysis it was reported that almost 4 in 10 of the jobs created in Wales over the decade following the 2008 financial crisis were in self-employment (Henley and Lang, 2017). Furthermore, this analysis demonstrated the high degree of diversity of self-employment activity across Wales, both in spatial and sectoral dimensions. This paper looks at how this group in Wales have fared so far during the crisis and makes some suggestions on how policy may address the prospects of the self-employed.
Highlights
Due to the particular concentration of the selfemployed in ‘social consumption’ and face-toface service sectors, initial projections suggested that a higher proportion of the selfemployed, in comparison to employees, across the UK would be at risk of loss of job or business (Henley and Reuschke, 2020)
Despite an initial hiatus in late March 2020, it quickly became apparent to the UK government that a support scheme for the self-employed would need to be developed to operate in parallel with the Coronovirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)
At the time of writing it has recently been announced that the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) would be extended, albeit in a less generous form, through to April 2021
Summary
Due to the particular concentration of the selfemployed in ‘social consumption’ and face-toface service sectors, initial projections suggested that a higher proportion of the selfemployed, in comparison to employees, across the UK would be at risk of loss of job or business (Henley and Reuschke, 2020). Recent analysis suggests that the first of these explanations (‘opportunity pull’) may provide a fuller account of the development of selfemployment in the UK and across its countries and regions, as self-employment growth rates appear to be higher where local economic conditions are more vibrant, typically around London and in the south east of England (Henley, 2017). These are sectors in which across the UK self-employment numbers have been growing in recent years. Wales has almost half the proportion of self-employed in the professional, scientific and technical services sector as London. Other including unknown Arts, entertainment and recreation Health and social work Education Public admin and defence Admin and support services Prof, scientific, technical activities Financial, insurance, real estate Information and communication Accommodation and food services Transport and storage Wholesale, retail, repair of vehicle
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