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

Abstract

Abstract: This work explores self-employment in Britain across recent years and examines changes in the flows of individuals into and out of 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 selfemployment 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. Acknowledgements: Thanks to Danny Blanchflower for helpful comments. The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), and the University of Essex is gratefully In Britain, the 1980s is often described as the decade of the entrepreneur. The number of selfemployed individuals in Britain almost doubled from 1.8 million (or 7.3 % of those in work) in 1979

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