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A Gender Perspective on Self-Employment Entry and Performance as Self-Employed

Author

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  • Andersson Joona, Pernilla

    (SOFI, Stockholm University)

  • Wadensjö, Eskil

    (Stockholm University)

Abstract

Research on self-employment has increased during recent years and particular attention has been paid to self-employment dynamics and the factors influencing entry and exit rates from self-employment. Using a large panel data set for Sweden, this paper investigates variations in recruitment to self-employment and in self-employment performance by gender and by employment status prior to entering self-employment. As performance measures we use income from self-employment, number of employees, exit rates and destination after self-employment. We find that the probability of becoming self-employed is highest among men who are economically inactive and lowest among women who are wage-earners. Analysing self-employment performance, we find that men have higher incomes than women. Self-employed women more often than self-employed men have employees. For both men and women those who enter from unemployment or inactivity are less successful in terms of income and the probability of having employees than those who enter from paid employment. When exits are divided into paid employment and other employment status, we find that those who entered from unemployment or inactivity face a higher risk of returning to one of these states.

Suggested Citation

  • Andersson Joona, Pernilla & Wadensjö, Eskil, 2008. "A Gender Perspective on Self-Employment Entry and Performance as Self-Employed," IZA Discussion Papers 3581, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3581
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Marcén, Miriam, 2014. "The role of culture on self-employment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(S1), pages 20-32.
    2. Nina Lazarczyk-Bilal & Beata Glinka, 2020. "What Determines the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Highly-Skilled Women with Refugee Experience? An Empirical Analysis in the Context of Sweden," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Marit RØNSEN, 2014. "Children and family: A barrier or an incentive to female self-employment in Norway?," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(2), pages 337-349, June.
    4. Williams, Donald R., 2012. "Gender discrimination and self-employment dynamics in Europe," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 153-158.
    5. Tina Haussen & Marcus Schlegel, 2020. "Unemployment reduction through solo self-employment: A gender question?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(6), pages 3085-3105, December.
    6. Antonio Caparrós Ruiz, 2010. "Self-employment as first job choice in Spain: Evidence by nationality," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2010/03, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    7. Antonio Caparrós Ruiz, 2010. "Self‐employment or paid employment as the first job," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(12), pages 951-969, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    self-employment; unemployment; income; occupational mobility; gender differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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