The number of self-employed women without employees increased nearly 14% to 143,500 in the year to March 2021, according to Statistics New Zealand.

“The term ‘self-employed without employees’ can include people who are starting their own business, sole traders, independent contractors, freelancers, or gig workers, and excludes people who employ others,” labour market statistics manager Andrew Neal said.

The latest data (not seasonally adjusted) from the March 2021 quarter Household Labour Force Survey showed the number of women who were self-employed increased by 17,500 over the year (up 13.9%). This coincided with a drop in the number of women in paid employment, though this drop was not statistically significant, Stats NZ added.

At the same time, the number of self-employed men reached 211,600 in the same period, up 3.5%.

“After the challenges that Covid-19 presented this past year, employment opportunities for women are continuing to bounce back and we’re seeing this in an increasing shift into self-employment,” Neal said.

Overall, most self-employed people worked in the professional, scientific, technical, administrative, and support services industry (22.6%) in the March 2021 quarter, followed by the construction industry (15.1%).

The highest number of self-employed women worked in the professional, scientific, technical, administrative, and support services industry (22.8% of all self-employed women).

The total number of self-employed people increased by 7.5% in the year to March 2021 to reach 355,000.