November 2007, vol. 9, no. 3 - Self-Employment

Using results from the Labour Force Survey, Table 3 provides a breakdown of the educational attainment of employed individuals and various categories of self-employed workers from 2000 and 2006. The labour force is more educated than ever, with over 50 percent of employed and self-employed workers having at least a post-secondary education.

Table 3: Share of Self-Employed Workers¹ and Employees by Category of Worker and Education Level, Canada, 2000 and 2006

Education Level	Employed			Self-Employed			Incorporated - Proportions				Unincorporated - Proportions
							With Paid Help		Without Paid Help		With Paid Help		Without Paid Help
	Share (%)		Percent Change2	Share (%)		Percent Change3	Share (%)		Share (%)		Share (%)		Share (%)
	2000	2006		2000	2006		2000	2006	2000	2006	2000	2006	2000	2006
Source: Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada. 1 Unpaid family workers are not shown in this table due to their small number. 2 Percent change in employed workers from 2000 to 2006. 3 Percent change in self-employed workers from 2000 to 2006.
0–8 years	3.2	2.5	-13.2	6.2	4.3	-27.0	4.5	3.6	4.4	3.1	6.7	4.6	6.8	4.7
Some high school	13.1	10.9	-6.8	13.3	10.3	-18.1	10.2	8.4	10.1	8.8	11.9	10.2	15.2	11.5
High school graduate	21.3	20.8	9.9	19.6	19.6	5.1	19.8	21.1	18.7	18.9	18.8	19.5	19.8	19.0
Some post-secondary	10.2	8.5	-5.5	7.8	6.5	-12.0	7.9	6.8	7.7	6.0	6.1	5.7	8.1	6.6
Post-secondary certificate/ diploma	32.8	34.8	19.7	31.0	33.3	13.1	31.4	32.9	32.5	35.5	27.6	30.2	31.7	33.8
University degree	19.3	22.6	32.1	22.2	26.0	23.3	26.2	27.1	26.5	27.7	29.0	29.8	18.3	24.5
All levels	100.0	100.0	12.9	100.0	100.0	5.2	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Table 3 also shows that during the six-year period the composition of the labour force has been changing. The number of workers with less than a high school education has been decreasing, while the number of workers with a post-secondary education has been increasing. This has resulted in a larger share of employed and self-employed workers with a postsecondary education. Between 2000 and 2006, the share of employed with a post-secondary certificate/ diploma rose from 32.8 percent to 34.8 percent. For the self-employed with a post-secondary certificate/ diploma, the share rose from 31.0 percent to 33.3 percent. Similarly, the share of employed and self-employed workers with a university degree rose to 22.6 percent and 26.0 percent respectively.

There are no significant differences between employees and the self-employed in terms of educational attainment, suggesting that education is not a factor explaining why people become employed or self-employed.

The same phenomenon of increasing educational attainment between 2000 and 2006 is present across all categories of self-employed workers. The category with the highest share of individuals with a post-secondary certificate, at 35.5 percent, is incorporated self-employed workers without paid help. In 2006, the highest share of self-employed workers with a university degree, at 29.8 percent, was found among those who were unincorporated with paid help. The largest gain in the share of workers with a university degree, out of the four categories, occurred in the unincorporated without paid help category. The change was from 18.3 percent to 24.5 percent.

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