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May 2008, vol. 10, no. 1 - Self-Employment

The number of self-employed workers in Canada rose at an annualized rate of 1.5 percent between 2000 and 2007 according to Statistics Canada's 2007 Labour Force Survey. Table 3 presents a breakdown by industry of employed individuals and various categories of self-employed workers for 2000 and 2007. In 2007, there were 14 251 400 employed and 2 615 000 self-employed individuals, accounting for 84.5 and 15.5 percent of the sampled workforce respectively.

Table 3: Self-Employment in Canada, Share by Category of Worker and Industry, 2000 and 2007

Industry	Employees			Self-Employed			Incorporated				Unincorporated
							With Paid Help		Without Paid Help		With Paid Help		Without Paid Help
	Share (%)		Number of Employees (000)	Share (%)		Number of Self- Employed*	Share of Self- Employed (000)	Average Growth	Share of Self- Employed	Average Growth	Share of Self- Employed	Average Growth	Share of Self- Employed	Average Growth
	2000	2007	2007	2000	2007	2007	2007	2000– 2007	2007	2000– 2007	2007	2000– 2007	2007	2000– 2007
							(Percent)				(Percent)
*Includes unpaid family workers. Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey.
Goods-Producing Sector	25.5	23.0	3 277.7	27.8	27.4	715.3	26.2	3.5	17.7	9.8	10.7	-0.6	43.2	-0.8
Agriculture	1.0	0.9	127.0	10.4	8.0	210.3	13.4	1.0	13.7	2.6	10.1	-3.4	56.8	-2.8
Forestry, Fishing, Mining, Oil and Gas	1.8	2.0	288.5	2.0	1.9	50.8	23.0	0.1	28.5	19.7	13.0	-2.2	34.8	-2.0
Utilities	0.9	1.0	137.9	0.0	0.0	0.0
Construction	4.3	5.5	780.5	11.6	13.5	353.0	27.6	6.9	19.6	12.1	10.8	1.8	41.5	1.3
Manufacturing	17.4	13.6	1 943.8	3.8	3.9	101.1	49.5	0.9	13.8	13.1	10.8	0.8	24.8	0.5
Services-Producing Sector	74.5	77.0	10 973.7	72.2	72.6	1 899.7	21.5	1.5	17.0	6.9	9.7	-2.1	51.4	1.3
Trade	16.0	16.7	2 379.8	13.1	11.6	302.6	40.2	0.4	17.3	4.3	11.2	-2.6	30.5	-2.0
Transportation and Warehousing	5.1	4.8	679.6	5.9	5.5	143.2	15.4	-1.5	24.2	7.2	6.9	-2.6	52.8	-0.5
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Leasing	5.9	6.2	877.0	5.4	7.0	183.4	17.7	3.3	17.5	7.2	7.3	3.3	57.3	7.5
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	4.9	5.3	756.7	13.5	14.5	380.2	17.4	0.8	26.6	6.7	8.1	-2.0	47.6	2.8
Management of Companies and Administrative and Other Support Services	3.1	3.8	542.3	6.6	6.1	159.9	17.1	4.4	11.5	2.9	9.3	-2.7	61.6	-0.2
Educational Services	7.5	7.9	1 129.9	1.9	2.0	53.3	6.8	-1.4	10.1	12.3	4.9	6.3	78.0	2.2
Health Care and Social Assistance	10.6	11.4	1 620.9	8.2	8.6	225.3	13.6	2.1	6.7	16.8	15.3	-2.6	64.2	3.1
Information, Culture and Recreation	4.6	4.6	660.6	4.0	4.6	121.3	13.0	3.2	17.4	9.1	4.0	0.3	65.5	3.5
Accommodation and Food Services	6.8	6.8	970.4	3.9	3.8	9.0	49.9	2.7	10.5	13.7	18.4	-3.8	19.3	1.3
Other Services	3.7	3.5	492.1	9.8	8.8	231.4	16.6	3.3	13.7	8.3	9.2	-1.8	60.1	-1.5
Public Administration	6.2	6.1	864.5	0.0	0.0	0.0
All Industries	100.0	100.0	14 251.4	100.0	100.0	2 615.0	22.7	2.1	17.2	7.7	10.2	-1.4	49.2	0.7

Shares of self-employed individuals working in goods and services sectors have not changed significantly from 2000 to 2007. In the goods sector, the share remained nearly constant at 27.4 percent. Similarly, the share in the services sector barely changed, increasing from 72.2 to 72.6 percent.

Across all industry sectors in 2007, professional, scientific and technical services represented the largest concentration of self-employed individuals (14.5 percent), followed by the construction industry (13.5 percent). In the goods-producing sector, over the period 2000 to 2007, the largest decrease in the proportion of self-employed workers occurred in agriculture, which dropped from 10.4 to 8 percent. The largest gain in the share of self-employed workers occurred in the construction industry, which rose from 11.6 to 13.5 percent. Over the same period, the most noticeable decrease in the services-producing sector occurred in trade, where the proportion of self-employed workers fell from 13.1 to 11.6 percent. The share of self-employed workers increased from 5.4 to 7.0 percent in the finance, insurance, real estate and leasing sector.

Within the group of self-employed individuals, the highest share in 2007 was among those unincorporated without paid help (49.2 percent), followed by the incorporated with paid help category, representing 22.7 percent of self-employment.

Substantial changes have occurred in the category of incorporated self-employed workers without paid help. Over the period 2000 to 2007, the number of individuals in this category grew by 9.8 percent in the goods sector and 6.9 percent in the services sector. Self-employment exhibited double-digit growth in this category of workers in many industries: forestry, fishing, mining, oil and gas (19.7 percent), health care and social assistance (16.8 percent), accommodation and food services (13.7 percent), manufacturing (13.1 percent), educational services (12.3 percent) and construction (12.1 percent).

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