Market Intelligence: Kern County's self-employment picture
| Friday, Jul 24 2009 06:30 PM
Last Updated Friday, Jul 24 2009 06:30 PM
In Kern County, 55,255 adults identified themselves as self-employed, with 72 percent working full time. Self-employed individuals work in a wide variety of occupations, shown in the table below.
Occupation % who are self-employed
Legal 36
Computer and mathematical 34
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance 27
Management 22
Financial specialists 22
Extraction workers 21
Personal care and service 20
Farming, fishing and forestry 19
Health care support 18
Construction trades 17
Installation, maintenance and repair workers 16
Production 16
Food preparation and serving 14
Health care practitioners and technical 13
Protective service 12
Office and administrative support 12
Sales 11
Architecture and engineering 10
Transportation and material moving 10
Life, physical and social science 9
Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media 8
Community and social services 7
Education, training and library 5
Key characteristics of the self-employed
Interestingly, most self-employed individuals do not have college or advanced education; 90 percent have not graduated from a four-year college. However, a high percentage of self-employed individuals have above average incomes.
• 48 percent are under 35 years of age.
• 86 percent are under 55 years of age.
• 90 percent don’t have a college degree.
• 44 percent have household income of $75,000 or more.
• 2 out of 3 are men.
Entrepreneurial spirit or survival
In terms of percentage of adults claiming to be self-employed, Kern County ranks sixth compared with nearby counties. The table below lists the counties and their rank in terms of percentage of adults claiming to be self-employed.
No County % of adults who are self-employed
1 Tulare 21.6
2 Los Angeles 12.1
3 Orange 9.2
4 Ventura 8.5
5 Riverside 8.5
6 Kern 7.7
7 San Bernardino 6.9
8 Fresno 4.3
9 Kings 2.1
Sources: Scarborough Research (2009 r2 & 2008 Multi Market) and The Bakersfield Californian Market Research.
