Labor > Employment > Self-employment > Self-employment rates > Total: Countries Compared

Self-employed persons include employers, own-account workers, members of producers’ co-operatives, and unpaid family workers. The last of these are unpaid in the sense that they do not have a formal contract to receive a fixed amount of income at regular intervals, but they share in the income generated by the enterprise; unpaid family workers are particularly important in farming and retail trade. Note that all persons who work in corporate enterprises, including company directors, are considered to be employees.

The rates shown here are the percentages of the self-employed in total civilian employment i.e., total employment less military employees.