Majority of the self-employed in the EU are men

In the second quarter of 2021, 13 % of employed people aged between 20-64 years in the EU were self-employed. The remaining employed people were predominantly classified as employees (86 %) with a smaller share (less than1 %) working as contributing family workers.

Among the self-employed, men outnumbered women (67 % vs 33 %). In contrast, there was a fairly even split between men and women who were categorised as employees (52 % vs 48 %).

Examining the data by age group, a larger proportion of people aged 55-64 years were self-employed (17 %) compared to other age groups; 4 % of those aged 15-24 were self-employed and 13 % of those aged 25-54.

In addition, self-employment appears to be slightly more common among employed people who have a low educational attainment level (16 % of people with a low educational attainment level were self-employed compared with 12 % of people with a medium level of education and 13 % with a high level of education).

Less than 4 % of employed people had a second job

In the second quarter of 2021, just under 4 % of employed people aged 20-64 had a second job in the EU. Among them, 57 % of those having a second job did their second job as an employee, while 39 % did their second job as self-employed.

Across the EU Member States, the countries with highest shares of employed people working in two jobs were the Netherlands (10 %), Finland and Denmark (both 7 %), Estonia and Lithuania (both 6 %). In contrast 0.5 % or less of employed people had a second job in Bulgaria, Romania and Sweden.

For more information:

www.ec.europa.eu/eurostat/