Are the Self-Employed Really Their Own Boss?: Evidence on the Degree of Autonomy and Control the Self-Employed Have Over Their Work

Authors

• Katharine G. Abraham, University of MarylandFollow
• Susan N. Houseman, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment ResearchFollow
• Beth C. Truesdale, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment ResearchFollow

Upjohn Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2657-8479

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3205-2847

Issue Date

April 2026

Abstract

Self-employment is commonly equated with being one’s own boss. This implies that, compared to employees, the self-employed have greater freedom to make their own decisions on key aspects of their job, including how they do their work and when they work. In this paper, we use information from a large, nationally representative survey, collected as part of the American Job Quality Study, to examine the degree to which workers in various self-employment arrangements do, in fact, control their own work. We find that while the self-employed are more likely than employees to have a lot of input into how and when they work, more than 40 percent lack such autonomy over how they do their job, and 40 percent lack strong control over their schedules. Moreover, most self-employed workers who have limited control over their work schedules also experience unpredictable schedules and volatile hours, implying that, for many self-employed, their schedules do not reflect their choices. Although our data cannot identify specific cases in which employers misclassify workers as self-employed independent contractors instead of correctly classifying them as employees, our findings are consistent with other evidence showing that worker misclassification is widespread in the United States.

Series

Policy Paper No. 2026-038

DOI

10.17848/pol2026-038

Keywords

self-employment, independent contractors, informal work, worker misclassification, economic measurement

Subject Areas

LABOR MARKET ISSUES; Employment relationships; Nonstandard work arrangements