That might be why in this week’s survey, two-thirds of self-employed people said they’re living anything but the dream. A dream employer for them is not their current status of self-employment.
Little data given, but this strikes me as one of those hard to measure things. It's like how surveys show that children don't make people "happier" and yet you'll be hard pressed to find any parent that would give it up.
Similarly, these 2/3 of people self employed could get a traditional job.... but they don't. I guess it depends how the questions are worded. Could things be better? Of course. Would you give it up? Well, presumably they could.
Relevant cartoon: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/working_home
Edit: also curious about how many people who do work in the companies in the top list actually list their own companies. Grass is always greener sort of effect. What percentage of Google employees consider Google their "dream job"?