Independent workers own the economic unit for which they work and control its activities. They make the important strategic and operational decisions about the economic unit for which their work is performed and the organization of their work, are not accountable to or supervised by other persons, nor are they dependent on a single other economic unit or person for access to the market, raw materials or capital items. They may work on their own account or in partnership with other independent workers and may or may not provide work for others.

Resolution concerning statistics on work relationships, adopted by the 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians