Self-Employment

You report a marked trend toward self-employment and draw political conclusions from this trend (“The New Politics of Going Solo,” May 3). Yet the official figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that the work force is dominated by wage and salary workers (91.5% of the total), a group whose proportion of employment has risen during the 1980s and 1990s. As a fraction of the work force, self-employment showed a slight upward creep during 1979-94. But last year the proportion and absolute number of self-employed declined (to 8.4% and 10.5 million, respectively). And the number of unpaid family workers has dropped steadily.

In short, it has been, and still is, the problems of ordinary wage earners which should hold the attention of politicians. Pat Buchanan figured this out and the others should not forget it.

DANIEL J.B. MITCHELL

Professor, Anderson Graduate

School of Management, UCLA