Nowadays, people long for a different work lifestyle; something apart from the typical nine to five. This longing leads to many choosing self-employment, instead of working for an organisation or a company. Let us examine as to why they do so and what are the downsides of choosing this in the subsequent paragraphs.
To embark on, the rate of self-employment has excessively risen in the past decade due to the current generation’s surge of self-dependency. The desire to work for themselves, at their own convenience and pace has even led people to quit companies they have worked with for years and start anew by themselves. Many individuals are ready to invest and instil effort into their start-ups provided they get to keep their entire earnings. For instance, a study conducted by Buzzfeed in May 2019 in the US on 300 young business graduates revealed that 87% of them chose to be self-employed with the added intention of being able to keep your entire earnings.
Furthermore, it is also important to note that while many choose to become self-employed, there are many disadvantages to this choice. To elucidate, the most important one being no job security. Since they choose to run their own company, the security and privilege of receiving a pay even when in a financial crisis is lost. Along with that, multiple businesses, especially in the beginning do not have a fixed pay or timings, making them incredibly undependable and inconvenient. To cite an example, it is statistically proven that even though 80% of businesses make it past the first year, only 30% are able to cross the eight-year mark. Unsuccessful businesses do not just lead to increased debt and loans, but also tremendous familial, physical and mental distress.
To encapsulate, it can be concluded that even though there are multiple reasons as to why people wish to be self-employed; the risks required prove that the downsides to doing so outweigh the upsides.