Monaco counted over 5,500 self-employed workers at the end of 2021, a solid increase of 4.7% over the previous year. Men are heavily represented in this category, equalling over 70% of the independent workers in the country.

According to the latest report by Monaco’s statistics body IMSEE, the self-employed are on the rise. In the year 2021, 5,544 people were signed on as independent contractors in the Principality, a healthy increase of 4.7% on 2020.

The service sectors account for 94.2% of all independent contractors. The wholesale trade sector has the highest number of self-employed workers, accounting for 15.5% of the total, followed by the specialised activities sector, which includes designers, translators, photographers and the like with 12.9%, and management consultancy activities which comes in at 9.3%. In all three of these sectors, there was a climb in the number of people involved over the previous year equalling 37.7% of the total number of self-employed.

Even some of the smaller trades for freelancers, such as motor vehicle sales, which accounts for 1% of the overall, saw a 13.7% increases in the number of self-employed workers.

Men account for 3,966 of the self-employed, and women are 1,578 in number, making this type of employment overwhelmingly male dominated in 2021, though the proportion of women has steadily risen, going from 27.9% in 2018 to 28.5% in 2021.

The average age of a self-employed person is 50.7-years-old, roughly the same as in 2020. The 45-54 age group is the most represented at just under 30%. The gender breakdown suggests women are slightly younger, 48.7-years-old, than their male counterparts who average 51.5 years of age.

Over 80 nationalities make up Monaco’s self-employed, though the French are the most represented, followed by the Italians who are roughly a quarter of the total number. Monegasques are third, coming in at 14%. These proportions are similar to those of previous years.

Though women are represented less overall, there are certain activities where they dominate. Hairdressing and beauty are one such occupation, with 79.7% being female. Paramedical professions come up roughly evenly split with women having a slight advantage at 50.5%.

At the other end of the spectrum, taxi drivers and those in architectural and engineering activities are almost exclusively male at 90.6%, with motor vehicle sellers even higher at 92.2%.

Photo by Evgeniy Surzhan on Unsplash