Conclusions

This chapter summarizes the advances made in the book in understanding dependent self-employment. It reveals the need to transcend the dominant depiction of dependent self-employment as a rapidly growing form of precarious work conducted by marginalized workers as a direct result of outsourcing by large corporations, which is closely affiliated with the advent of online platforms and mobile applications, and as involving worse working conditions than other employment. Revealing that many of the dominant depictions regarding the prevalence and growth of dependent self-employment, its distribution and characteristics, are not supported, the chapter underlines the policy implications and aims at stimulating greater discussion about tackling dependent self-employment in the broader context of decent work deficits across all employment relationships, and on what is to be done about the deficits in not only the quality but also the quantity of jobs, and the implications for universal social inclusion and protection.