Can Self-Employment Close The Wage Gap?

Nowadays, modern technology is helping people to easily and quickly decide on what to do to make money. From freelancing to self-employment or starting a new small business, the technology is there to help you grow.

This means you can now go into entrepreneurship without spending a fortune. In fact, there is an unprecedented rise in self-employment nowadays unlike before. According to Statista, the number of self-employed workers in the UK has risen.

The data company disclosed that the construction industry accounted for around 934,000 employed people, which makes it the largest self-employed workforce in the United Kingdom.

However, can self-employed actually close the wage gap? New research from FreshBooks.com discovers a 28% wage gap among self-employed women and men. Self-employed professionals have the autonomy to set their own rates, so why does this earnings gap exist?

As FreshBooks mentioned in its first Women in the Independent Workforce Report, the data suggest a massive gender wage gap exists among freelancers, with men out-earning women by 28%. The research which was done by Freshbooks in conjunction with Research Now, surveyed more than 2,700 people in the U.S. who work full time – either as traditional employees, independent professionals, or small business owners.

The report disclosed that women who work for themselves earn 28% less than their male peers in America. However, it suggested that up to 13 million women could quit their traditional jobs to work for themselves over the next five years.