The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is pleased to announce the launch of a new report examining the state of legislation and regulation affecting self-employed individuals in Canada and around the world.
Statistics suggest that self-employment may represent up to 25% of most major developed countries’ workforces, demonstrating the importance of research into this substantial aspect of the economy.
Called the Entrepreneurial Index, the report, and accompanying interactive website, analyse and compare a variety of legislative measures that affect self-employed workers in all 13 Canadian provinces and territories, 8 Australian states and territories, and New Zealand.
The Entrepreneurial Index gives a score out of 10 to each jurisdiction on fifteen aspects of law that can have a significant impact on the ability of the self-employed to be able to thrive, or be forced to fight to survive.
The measures, like Income Tax Withholding rules, Medical Insurance regulations, Contract Laws and Dispute Resolution processes, are then weighted according to their importance and the resulting total scores provide an overall ranking for each jurisdiction in the report.
New Zealand, a common feature on various economic freedom measures, tops the rankings, closely followed by Manitoba, New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. British Columbia and Quebec are the lowest ranked Canadian provinces, while several Australian states and territories fill the bottom places in the results.
“Government laws and regulation are not often assessed from the perspective of their impact on self-employed people. Yet the impact is direct and profound on the capacity of self-employed people to exist as entrepreneurial players in societies,” explains Ken Phillips, the author of this year’s index.
“We hope the release of this index encourages the public, and their elected officials, to consider the importance of self-employment, and the significant impact regulation can have on the wider economy,” concludes Mr. Phillips.
For more information about the project, the scores for individual measures and comparisons with other jurisdictions please visit the Entrepreneurial Index website for the full report:
http://www.entrepreneurial-index.org
Entrepreneurial Index 2013 – Final Rankings
1: New Zealand [77.9%]
=2: Manitoba [75.7%]
=2: New Brunswick [75.7%]
=2: Northwest Territories [75.7%]
=2: Nunavut [75.7%]
6: Alberta [74.9%]
7: Prince Edward Island [73.7%]
8: Western Australia [73.5%]
=9: Saskatchewan [73.3%]
=9: Yukon [73.3%]
11: Newfoundland and Labrador [72.5%]
12: Ontario [69.7%]
13: South Australia [67.5%]
14: Nova Scotia [66.5%]
15: Victoria [66.2%]
16: New South Wales [65.7%]
17: British Columbia [64.1%]
18: Quebec [62.5%]
=19: Queensland [60.7%]
=19: Tasmania [60.7%]
20: Northern Territory [59.5%]
21: Australian Capital Territory [59.1%]
