The Canadian Press

A new study says self-employment rose substantially during the recent economic downturn, while paid employment declined.

Statistics Canada says layoffs among paid workers might account for some of the increase in self-employment, but not all of it.

The agency reports self-employment increased by more than 100,000, or 4.3 per cent, between October 2008 and October 2009.

Meanwhile, paid employment fell by 480,000, or 3.3 per cent.

StatsCan says the decline in paid employment largely predated the increase in self-employment, raising the possibility that a large portion of the newly self-employed could have been paid employees who lost their jobs early in the downturn.

But the study found several reasons why that’s unlikely — No. 1, the characteristics of those who lost their jobs bore little resemblance to those who became self-employed.

It says 28% of recently laid-off paid employees came from manufacturing industries while many of the newly self-employed were in services.

Statistics Canada says the growth in self-employment was not evenly distributed across demographic groups — women, for example, accounted for 58% of the increase.

Furthermore, the increase was entirely concentrated among older workers, especially those at least 55.