After a decade repairing helicopters in places from the Arctic to Mexico, Marc Bonin grew weary of the turbulence in B.C.'s economically sensitive aviation industry. He wanted stability, and a chance to spend more time with his young son.
So last June he threw open his doors as the Car Butler – a service geared toward busy Vancouver-area doctors, lawyers and executives, which picks up and oversees repairs of their cars. It was a decision forged by choice, one that he said gives him more flexible work hours, potential for higher earnings, less need to travel and a chance to start something from scratch. Mr. Bonin, 38, plans to franchise his business in the next three years.
“I see it as my own creation. Many people relate it to babies, how they grow, and I can totally see it that way,” he said.
Many others across the country can relate. More than 115,000 Canadians became self-employed in a recent one-year period, a study released Monday showed.
One obvious conclusion is that droves of laid-off workers were forced into self-employment because they had few other options. The number of self-employed in Canada climbed 4.3 per cent between October, 2008, and October, 2009. At the same time, paid employment tumbled by 480,000 or 3.3 per cent.
But surprisingly, the Statistics Canada survey found this isn't the whole story. “Layoffs likely explained some, but not all, of the recent increase in self-employment,” concluded the author, economist Sébastien LaRochelle-Côté.
A host of factors appear to be spurring the move, including the desire for more flexible working hours and higher earnings, along with economic factors such as the layoff of a spouse, the study said.
The conclusions are based on several observations. After the first five months of the downturn, beginning in October, 2008, the characteristics of those who lost their jobs bore little resemblance to those who became self-employed. Nearly half a year after the start of the downturn, 28 per cent of recently laid-off paid employees were employed by manufacturing firms. In contrast, many of those who became self-employed in the ensuing months were in services – such as finance and real estate.
Women accounted for the majority of the increase over the one-year period, at 58 per cent, even though men lost more jobs.
