Written Answer by Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Finance and Minister for Manpower, to Parliamentary Question on profile of self-employed persons and full-time freelancers

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower as at 31 December 2011, how many people in the labour force are self-employed and working as full-time freelancers and what is their educational breakdown in terms of numbers of those who are diploma holders and those with qualifications of degrees and above.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam:

As of June 2011 , among 1,998,900 employed residents, 299,800 (or 15%) were self-employed. Of these, 40,600 (or 14%) had diplomas or professional qualifications, while 61,900 (or 21%) had degree and above qualifications. Compared to employees, there are proportionally fewer self-employed with diploma and above qualifications.

There are three groups of self-employed persons – (i) employers, (ii) contributing family workers, and (iii) own account workers. “Own account workers” refer to self-employed persons who operate their own business or trade without employing any paid worker . Table 1 captures the statistical breakdown. We do not have data specifically on freelancers.

Table 1: Employed Residents Aged 15 Years & Over by Employment Status and Highest Qualification Attained, June 2011

Employment Status	Total	Post Secondary (non-tertiary) & below	Diploma & Professional Qualification	Degree
Total	1,998,900 (100%)	1,064,300 (53%)	365,400 (18%)	569,300 (29%)
Employees	1,699,100 (100%)	866,900 (51%)	324,700 (19%)	507,400 (30%)
Self Employed	299,800 (100%)	197,300 (66%)	40,600 (14%)	61,900 (21%)
Employers	108,200 (100%)	62,100 (57%)	16,000 (15%)	30,100 (28%)
Contributing Family Workers	14,800 (100%)	13,100 (89%)	1,000 (7%)	700 (5%)
Own Account Workers	176,900 (100%)	122,200 (69%)	23,700 (13%)	31,000 (18%)

Source: 2011 Comprehensive Labour Force Survey, MOM

Notes:
(1) Data may not add up due to rounding.
(2) Figures in parentheses refer to the share of education type within each employment status classification.