The bar chart depicts the percentage of self employed workers of the total workforce across five different countries, namely – Russian Republic, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey – in 1998 and 2008. Overall, it is clearly seen that self-employed rate in Turkey represented the dominant group in both years, although their proportion declined substantially by 2008. Similarly, the same scenario was true for the self-employed in Greece. By contrast, rest of counterparts increased slightly.
In 1998, the self-employed in Turkey was more than half of total workforce, at approximately 56%. In Greece, the self-employed constitued roughly 40%. While others, Russian Republic, Slovakia and Czech Republic, showed a mere 5%, 7% and 11% respectively.
In 2008, Turkish and Greek self-employed workers dropped sharply to nearly 40% and 35% respectively. Meanwhile, Russian Republic, Slovakia, and Czech Republic grew marginally by 2, 5, and 4 percentage points.