self-employed

American  

[self-em-ploid, self-] / ˈsɛlf ɛmˈplɔɪd, ˌsɛlf- /

adjective

1. earning one's living directly from one's own profession or business, as a freelance writer or artist, rather than as an employee earning salary or commission from another.

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self-employed British  

adjective

1. earning one's living in one's own business or through freelance work, rather than as the employee of another

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Usage

What does self-employed mean? Self-employed means earning one's main income by getting paid directly for one’s work, such as by owning one's own business, as opposed to being an employee and getting paid by an employer.When people describe themselves as self-employed, it typically means that this is their primary way of earning income, and that they do it full-time—as opposed to working as an employee and doing freelance work on the side, for example.The term self-employed is often used by and applied to people who consider themselves business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.Self-employed is sometimes used to collectively refer to self-employed people, as in This program is intended to help the self-employed. The state of being self-employed is self-employment.Example: I love being self-employed—my boss is amazing.

Other Word Forms

• self-employment noun

Etymology

Origin of self-employed

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

A self-employed person who makes a modest income of $60,000 will pay over $13,000 of it in payroll and income taxes.

From Salon

Mark, who was self-employed, was unable to work for six months as he tried to support her and Ethan, which meant "no money coming in, mortgage to pay and then the isolation, the loneliness".

From BBC

If you are self-employed, run your own company or even have a side hustle, you have an opportunity to save much more for retirement.

From MarketWatch

While this strategy might make sense for windfall income of this kind, it might be less advantageous for those who are full-time self-employed.

From MarketWatch

The authors say the increase is concentrated in the most vulnerable forms of work: unpaid family helpers and self-employed workers, who have very low productivity and falling real earnings.

From BBC