RSA Summit on Self Employment

The number of people who work for themselves has grown by almost 30% since 2000, 15% of the workforce are now self employed. 

These are the 'tribes of the self-employed' that @theRSAorg @BenedictDel identified #RSAStartup #smallbiz #startup pic.twitter.com/gJDUfP9X1Z

— Luke Robinson (@LukeRobboUK) February 3, 2015

In light of these changes, the RSA organised this day summit to ask why so many people are turning to self employment, and what it could mean for wider society?

In building the Make Works platform, we have met dozens of self employed people working on both sides of the fence – as makers and fabricators, and as designers and artists. From many conversations along with our own experiences we know that there's a huge lack of support for these new and small businesses.

We originally tuned into the Self Employment Summit to find out if other people were having this experience, and how we can expect things to be changing over the coming years. 

Why is it useful?

With 90% of all new jobs (2008-2013) being in the self employment sector we think that it's something everyone needs to get their heads around, particularly if you work in the creative and manufacturing industries which already have soaring rates of self-employment. 

What bits should you look out for?

The Summit comprised of five sessions including 'Improving the living standards of the self-employed' and 'Searching for a new type of capitalism.' For anyone who is thinking about starting to sell their wares online the 'Entrepeneurship in a digital age' session including a representative from Etsy would be particularly interesting.

Attraction of online craft marketplaces like Etsy partly lies in the community and collaboration found there #RSAstartup #startup

— Benedict Dellot (@BenedictDel) February 3, 2015

You can watch all of the sessions from the summit here

Related Titles:

Salvation In a StartUp – RSA report on Self Employment

Is a self employment revolution really happening? – Report by ThinkTank Review