Self-employment in Britain: When, who and why?

Publication type

Conference Paper

Series

Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship Conference

Author

Publication date

March 22, 2004

Abstract:

This work explores self-employment in Britain across recent years with a particular focus on when individuals became self-employed, who is more or less likely to enter self-employment and why individuals choose to enter self-employment. Panel data suggest that the large increase in self-employment in the 1980s was due to increases in the inflow rate, while an increase in the outflow rate in the early 1990s has stopped this trend. Gender, parents occupation, assets and considering the work itself, the use of initiative or hours of work to be the most important aspect of a job emerge as key determinants of self-employment entry. Gender, age, occupation and elapsed duration in self-employment emerge as important determinants of self-employment exit. Our analysis reveals that, all else equal, the self-employed report higher levels of job satisfaction with pay and with the work itself than employees, but lower levels of satisfaction with job security.

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