Official figures published this week show that women, not men, are driving the large increase in self-employment in the UK.

The news comes in labour market data published by the Office or National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday, which showed unemployment as a whole fell 97,000 in the last three months of 2014.

Figures for self-employment revealed a 2% increase or 88,000 in the final quarter compared with the same period in 2013.

But the number of women going it alone rose by a much bigger margin, accounting for 77,000 or a whopping 87.5% of the total.

It means there are now 5.6% more women in self-employment than this time 12 months ago.

Chris Bryce, chief executive of the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, said MPs should make positive noises towards self-employed people in the run-up to the May election.

“The steady march of the self-employed continues and the employment rate in the UK now stands at 73.2% of the working population, its joint highest rate,” he said.

“It’s particularly pleasing to see the trend in women becoming their own boss, shown in last month’s labour market Stats, continue apace. The rise in the number of women heading into business for themselves over the last year is a whopping fourteen times higher than that of men.

“Political parties must further strengthen their commitments to supporting the UK’s 4.5 million independent professionals.

“We welcome Conservative efforts towards ending late payment of small suppliers and providing free wifi on trains, while Labour’s plans are positive but could go much further to ensure they support this vital section of the UK’s economy.”