Corrected Self-Employment Estimates for 2016–26

BLS staff identified an error in calculating the projected self-employment in occupations. The error resulted in projections that were closer to the average growth rate of all occupations than the rate that would have resulted from using our described methods.

The incorrect projections were limited to how self-employed jobs were distributed between occupations, and to total employment for those same occupations. Because only the distribution was incorrect, broad measures, such as the total number of jobs added within self-employment or for the whole economy, were not affected.

BLS corrected the data and all related publications January 30, 2018.

Industries affected

Industry	Cause	Fix	Location
Total, all occupations	Total, all occupations is a summary industry which includes self-employment and was affected by the changes to self-employment	The summary Total, all occupations was recalculated after the correction to the self-employment projection	www.bls.gov/emp/ind-occ-matrix/ind_xlsx/ind_TE1000.xlsx
Self-employment	An incorrect distribution caused a zero-sum difference between the intended projection and the one previously published	Employment shifted between self-employed occupations to reflect the intended distribution	<www.bls.gov/emp/ind-occ-matrix/ind_xlsx/ind_TE1100.xlsx

Republished materials

A spreadsheet provides detail on what BLS republished, including:

1. The above industries table
2. Details on the differences between the previously published numbers and the corrected numbers, by occupation
3. Lists of republished tables, articles, and other materials

 

Last modified: January 30, 2018