Home Publications Self-employment among young people – prevalence and outcomes

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Gerda Buchmueller, Richard Dorsett, Veruska Oppedisano, Neha Prashar - University of Westminster

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University of Westminster

What Works: testing youth employment interventions  · 

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University of Westminster
Evaluation panel, Research & evaluation partner

ProgrammeWhat Works: testing youth employment interventions

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About

The University of Westminster’s vision is to be sector leader in collaborating with industry and community organisations for providing strong career and enterprise support, facilitating workforce diversification and catalysing research and knowledge exchange.

As a major milestone, in spring 2026 the University has opened Zone29, its new home for careers and enterprise, where they strive to form new and nurture existing partnerships.

Working with Youth Futures

University of Westminster collaborates with us on research and evaluation activity as a member of our evaluation panel.

Currently, this includes working as part of our What Works: testing youth employment interventions programme.

Overview

The aim of this report is to understand if self-employment has the potential to provide opportunities for young people who face obstacles in finding a suitable job.

It draws on secondary data sets and surveys to understand:

  • intentions around self-employment
  • who opts for self-employment
  • earnings of young people who are self-employed
  • survival of self-employed businesses
  • job satisfaction

Key insights

Entrepreneurial interest exists but doesn’t always convert into self-employment, suggesting barriers to entryRead more about
  • Among currently employed 16 to 25-year-old, a third of males and a fifth of females report wanting to start a business.
  • In people up to the age of 30 who are unemployed, close to 1 in 5 have plans to start a business.
  • Longitudinal educational outcomes data for those completing key stage 4 in 2014 found 6.9% of males and 2.8% of females were self-employed by age 23, often in combination with employment. Most of the young people moving into self-employment were previously employed.
  • From UK survey data on 16 to 21-year-olds, the likelihood of future self-employment is 37% for males and 32% for females, which is higher than the proportion who go on to become self-employed.

Young people outside the labour market may benefit from support to enter self-employmentRead more about
  • Although interest levels are similar across UK-born and non-UK-born individuals, individuals whose mother was born abroad are more likely to intend to start a business within the next three years, as are those whose father was self-employed.
  • Among under-30s, 31% of Pakistani males are self-employed, higher than any other ethnicity.
  • Self-employment is more common among people with a health problem that limits the amount or type of work that can be done.

For those who do become self-employed, there are benefitsRead more about
  • Levels of job satisfaction are higher amongst self-employed people than those who are employed.
  • Levels of job-related anxiety and depression are lower for self-employed people, than those who are employed, especially for females.
  • For those aged under 25, average earnings for self-employed young people are higher than their employed peers. However, by age 24 – 34, paid employment is more lucrative than self-employment.

Other findings to noteRead more about
  • Self-employed business closures amongst 18 to 25 year olds are often due to personal reasons or having another job or business opportunity.
  • Limited companies set up by young people who have the support of older relatives as co-directors, see longer-term survival rates than those set up solely by young people.This suggests that young people may benefit from the support and experience of others.