Vince Cable needs to ask: what can he do for business? The experience varies from sector to sector. Most seriously, construction shrank by almost 10pc in the first six months of the year, far beyond the reduction in the size of the economy as a whole. By contrast, the Office for National Statistics recently reported a bounce-back in retail - a sector most have come to associate with pessimism after the turmoil of recent years. So what is going on? There are certainly questions about the accuracy of some official economic indicators, but there is obviously not roaring growth in the economy. There are, however some signs that things are set to improve. The employment figures are particularly encouraging. Economic naysayers will point to the large number of people who have come off the unemployment total because they have entered self-employment. Their implication is that self-employment somehow isn't real work. That is obviously nonsense. The growth in self-employment is a reflection of the increasingly flexible nature of work in the modern economy, driven in no small part by modern technology. We should be encouraged by the news of people taking up self-employment. These are thousands of individuals who, faced with unemployment, have decided to strike out on their own, developing products and business models that fit niches in the market. They are the seeds of a small business revolution, not statistics to be pooh-poohed by commentators from on high. Under-employment is an area for more justified concern. Many entering or re-entering the workplace are going into part-time jobs when they would really like to be in full-time positions. That represents willing but under-used capacity within our workforce. There are steps that can and must be taken to take on this challenge. I have written before about the need for the Government to pursue a radical agenda across the board in order to inspire economic confidence. Almost half the members of the Institute of Directors have delayed investment or recruitment decisions during the recent period of economic uncertainty, and unequivocal commitments from the Government in support of a positive business environment would go a long way to overcoming those fears. There are also some specific and immediate measures that would help to increase the amount of work available. Extending the opportunity for workers in currently restricted sectors would be a good start. It was an enlightened decision to relax the antiquated Sunday Trading Laws. Post-Olympics, though, shops over a certain size are forced once again to shut their doors at entirely arbitrary times, even though customers are willing to come in and spend money. At minimum there should be a new Sunday Trading relaxation for the run-up to Christmas, to ensure the retail sector can continue its recent growth - ideally, we should scrap the restrictions altogether. There are also tax policies that are producing unintended consequences. One driver of the increase in part-time jobs is undoubtedly the peculiar effects of the National Insurance system. An employer currently pays less NI for hiring two part-time employees to share a job than they would if they hired one person - a huge number of companies are understandably adapting to that incentive. More broadly, the cost and risk of taking on new staff for any business should be drastically reduced. While proposals by Adrian Beecroft, the government adviser, hit a brick wall, recent announcements that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills intends to move on employment regulation is welcome. It could still go further on reducing the burdens attached to employment - if we want people to hire, we should not be deterring them from doing so. Reportedly, Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, told the Cass Business School this week that he attributed the limited uptake of the Youth Contract scheme to an attitude among businesses that "the bribe they're offered isn't big enough." We should look at this the other way round - if businesses aren't taking up grants from BIS in return for employing new staff, perhaps costs involved in hiring outweigh even Vince's "bribes." Despite the torrid time we have all had in the past few years, there are some encouraging signs. This week's GDP figures will make interesting reading both in terms of their conclusion and in the degree to which they reflect the positive news in the employment figures. What is clear is that, achingly and step-by-step, the economy is indeed healing. Ian Dormer is chairman of the Institute of Directors