UK 2008-2013: From Q1 2008 to Q4 2013, all the net additional employment in Britain of 613,000 was in self-employment and part-time roles. 

The level of employment among those aged 16 and above increased to 30.2m in the three months to January 2014 - - the highest on record. according to the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS said [pdf] earlier this month that people aged 50 and over account for more than 70% of the rise in the number of self-employed since the start of the recession in 2008. Employment has grown by a net 613,000 people with the number of full-time employees falling by 148,000 while there was a rise of 251,000 in part-time workers and a surge of 510,000 in the number of self-employed.

The ONS says that together the 50 to 64 and 65 and above age categories account for just over 70% of the rise in self-employment. The breakdown is 37% and 35% respectively.

The statistics agency says there are now 4.5m self-employed people in Britain, the largest number since records began.

The ONS said that an analysis of earnings in several industries which suggests that the extent of real wage declines varies widely. After accounting for changes in average hours and inflation, workers in the construction industry have seen real hourly wage cuts of around 13.4% since 2008. Workers in finance & business services – who experienced real wage increases as recently as 2011 – have experienced a 4.2% cut in real hourly wages over the same period.

Average real hourly wages were around 7.6% below their 2008 level in Q4 2013.

Ian Stewart, chief economist of Deloitte, said in February: "The proportion of people working in the UK who were not born here has risen from 7.0% in 1997 to over 14.0% or 4.2m today.

Four sectors, which make up a quarter of all jobs in the UK, have accounted for three quarters of the new jobs created since 2010.

These "super growth" service sectors are diverse and cover 1) hotels, catering and restaurants; 2) communications, media, software IT and web related work; c) law, accountancy, consultancy, engineering, architecture, PR, design, R&D and advertising; d) renting, leasing, security services, employment agencies, call centres, facilities management.

The government has high hopes for a manufacturing revival, but this sector is very unlikely to be a big creator of new jobs. Manufacturing accounts for 8% of all UK employment and, along with the public sector, construction and financial services, has shed jobs since 2010."

The trend is generally for less security and low pay in a globalised market.