The following study provided by the HK Government examines the different factors which are affecting self-employment structure and trends in the territory. Special focus is on sectors, gender and age, educational attainment and occupation. (PDF file, 4 pages, 282 KB)

Request this document for free by email:   ► Show all documents 

Unformated preview of the document: 'Future prospects and current situation in HK self-employment' (Part 2):

preferring more flexibility and chose to be voluntarily self-employed in order to achieve a better work-family balance, has held relatively steady(3) (Chart 3). On the other hand, self-employment among the younger workers who were conceivably the ones most likely to ride on the innovation tide with technological know-how and entrepreneurship, has been relatively steady in the past ten years. Chart 3: Self-employed ratio by gender and age 60 or above 4.1 4.9 9.4 15.1 8.1 5.9 5.6 12.2 17.9 9.8 4.5 6.0 12.6 17.9 9.7 20 15 10 5 0 (%) 6.3 2.9 4.1 6.9 4.0 7.2 2.7 4.6 10.4 4.3 6.4 2.8 4.7 13.6 4.2 0 5 10 15 20 2004 2009 2015 Economic Background and 2016 Prospects 4 Box 6.2 (Cont’d) Mirroring the education and sectoral profile, self-employment remained most prevalent in such lower-skilled occupations as plant and machine operators and assemblers in 2014 (Chart 4b). However, comparing 2014 with 2004, an almost across-the-board decline in self-employed ratio was witnessed in the lower-skilled segment. On the contrary, the self-employed ratio in the higher-skilled segment held more or less steady, surpassing that of the lower-skilled segment in 2014. In particular, the self-employed ratio among professionals rose visibly by 1.3 percentage points from 3.3% in 2004 to 4.6% in 2014. Most of them worked in health services, creative and performing arts, specialised design, information technology service, and legal activities. Although they only accounted for 5.9% of all self-employed persons in 2014, considering their major work nature, the rising prominence of this segment appeared to conform to the idea of an emerging gig economy. Chart 4a: Self-employed ratio by Chart 4b: Self-employed ratio educational attainment by occupation 9.9 6.8 5.5 10.2 7.0 5.6 8.4 6.2 4.9 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Lower secondary and below Upper secondary Post secondary 2004 2009

Unformated preview of the document: 'Future prospects and current situation in HK self-employment':  Part 1, Part 2