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This is an archive article published on May 14, 2010

Recession creating a new wave of self-employed

People are increasingly expressing a desire to work more independently,according to the latest survey from Kelly Services.

India’s economic downturn has forged a new generation of home­grown entrepreneurs,with approximately one-­in-­six respondents describing themselves as ‘self-­employed’,and of the rest,more than a third expressing a desire to work more independently,according to the latest survey from global workforce solutions leader Kelly Services.

The findings are part of the Kelly Global Workforce Index,which obtained the views of approximately 134,000 people,including more than 4,000 in India.

Kelly Services Managing Director,Kamal Karanth said,“Many of those who lost their jobs as a result of the global economic crisis are reinventing themselves as independent contractors,freelancers and consultants. Today,people are taking charge of their own careers and view self-employment as a way of achieving personal and professional success.”

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“As of now certain factors like uncertainty about income or risk of failure etc are preventing people to place themselves into freelancing but the survey report shows that in India there are people who prefer being freelancers and are promoting others too,” Karanth added.

The appeal of self­employment coincides with a trend toward the outsourcing of non-­core functions,which has seen many organizations reduce their permanent workforce,creating new opportunities for these freelancers.

When seen from a generational perspective,there is a pattern of younger workers being more enthusiastic than their older counterparts about embarking on a more flexible and entrepreneurial work arrangement.

Those industries with the greatest concentration of self-employed workers were Utilities,Government,Engineering and Manufacturing.

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