Self-employment in the civil engineering sector has increased at more than twice the rate of the whole economy since 2013.

The number of civil engineers working for themselves rose by 33% between 2013 and 2018, more than double the 12.1% increase in self employed workers across the entire economy.

According to payroll and contractor accountancy firm Access Financial, the sector's growth in self-employment has been driven by women, with the number of self employed female civil engineers doubling in the last five years.

Currently 4% of self-employed civil engineers are women (2,250) compared to 1.6% in 2013 (659).

Access Financial chief executive Kevin Austin said the civil engineering sector’s project-based work “lends itself to self-employment”.

He said: “When people thinking of self-employment, they tend to think of the IT sector, and while there are more IT contractors in absolute terms, they comprise just 15% of the IT workforce and that proportion is falling.”

Access Financial added that the skills shortage, particularly acute in the transport sector, has enabled civil engineers to be increasingly selective about work.

This has made contracting more appealing, with the number of self-employed civil engineering increasing by 33.3% between 2013 and 2018. The proportion of the engineering workforce working for themselves now stands at a record 25.3%, up from 20.7% in 2013.

Austin said: “The emergence of the gig economy and the erosion of employee rights and benefits has changed the perception of contracting. It is seen increasingly as a career and lifestyle choice. In high demand sectors such as civil engineering, [self employed] contractors are rarely out of work and frequently have multiple contract offers. Any gaps in contracts are usually covered by higher take-home pay.”

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