As a freelancer, and as someone who occasionally consults for other freelancers about the perils of running a micro start-up, it's worth pointing out that work is reliably patchy, and the concept of full employment is a fairly unconvincing one - at least by the standards that most people use.

So yes - in practice, so-called self-employment is a great sink for many people who are really just temping. It's presented as being terribly entrepreneurial, but the reality is that PLCs are increasibly buying in short-term help when they need it rather than developing extended relationships. At the same time permanent positions are being converted into 'freelance opportunities.'

That latest stats I could find [PDF] suggest that around 3 million are self-employed.

To be fair, insolvency figures are running at about 10-15,000 a year, which suggests that most of that 3 million are doing enough work to stay afloat. Tax breaks also make survival easier. So it's not all bad news.

But I'd guess around half a million to a million are somewhat precariously self-employed, rather than being propelled at full tilt by the glorious headwinds of free enterprise, and should really be counted as part-time rather than full-time workers.