May 18, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Executives, professionals, and service workers to be growing share of self-employed

About 17 percent of self-employed workers were in executive, administrative, and managerial occupations in 1996. Self-employed people in this group either manage their own business or work for themselves in occupations such as accounting. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that these occupations will grow to an 18.7 percent share of the self-employed in 2006.

[Chart data—TXT]

Significant opportunities for self-employment exist in professional specialty occupations. This group accounted for 14.3 percent of the self-employed in 1996. Professionals are projected to be 14.8 percent of the self-employed in 2006.

Of the self-employed in 1996, 11.5 percent worked in service occupations. This group, which includes child-care workers, building service workers, and homemaker-home health aides, is expected to have a 12.6 percent share of self-employment in 2006.

These data are a product of the BLS Employment Projections program. For more information, see "Considering self-employment: What to think about before starting a business," Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Summer 1999.