The region saw its jobs count rise by 2.5 per cent in the last 12 months compared to 1.9 per cent nationally. And the region saw a 4.5 per cent increase in self-employment over the same period.
Women entrepreneurs are said to be leading the growth in self-employment, accounting for 54% of the increase since 2008.
The figures come from the NatWest Regional Economic Tracker, which monitors employment levels in 11 regions across the UK showing where the fastest job growth has occurred on a quarterly basis
Across the UK, self employment has risen by 21.1 per cent since 2008, with self-employment now accounting for 14.7 per cent of all jobs.
This increase has transformed the UK economy, particularly for women. The number of self-employed women has increased by more than 40% over the past eight years, accounting for jut over half of the rise in self-employment.
Since 2008, there are 1.8 million more people in work across the UK with 800,000 of these in self-employment.
NatWest Senior Economist Sebastian Burnside said: “Entrepreneurs are making a fantastically important contribution to the UK’s labour market.
“There are now 4.6 million self-employed people in the UK, an increase of 800,000 since 2008 with women accounting for 433,000 of these new jobs.
“Over the course of the recovery, we have seen the pace of self-employment growth vary.
“At the beginning in 2009 and 2010, self-employment was growing rapidly even as firms were shedding jobs.
“However, with employers once again recruiting workers and unemployment levels now below 5%, we are starting to see the growth of employee jobs outstrip self-employment’s expansion in some parts of the UK.”
In Manchester the proportion of jobs that are done by the self employed rose to 13 per cent while in Leeds this figure is 11.8 per cent.
