The study on self-employment shows that a higher self-employment rate was not conducive to grow out of the Great Recession. The study also reveals that the self-employed are either pushed or pulled into working for themselves. Frequently, the pull self-employed are job-makers and their number is more likely to increase when unemployment is low. Push self-employment is more likely to occur due to lack of alternatives when unemployment is high. With the Great Recession hitting self-employed earnings especially hard, it comes as no surprise that self-employment earnings were down more than 20% since the onset of recession.