Dependent self-employment across Europe: involuntariness, country's wealth and labour market institutions

This article investigates the degree of involuntariness in the entrepreneurial activity of the dependent solo self-employed, as well as its association with the country's wealth and labour market institutions. Using the unique information available in the 2017 European Labour Force Survey (EU-L...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hernanz Martín, Virginia|||0000-0003-3683-9900, Carrasco, Raquel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/50791
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/50791
https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2021.1980200
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Dependent solo selfemployed
Involuntariness
Economic conditions
Labour market institutions
J01
J08
J28
L24
L26
Economía
Economics
Descripción
Sumario:This article investigates the degree of involuntariness in the entrepreneurial activity of the dependent solo self-employed, as well as its association with the country's wealth and labour market institutions. Using the unique information available in the 2017 European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) for 29 countries, we can properly identify the dependent solo self-employed and analyse to what extent they behave in accordance with an occupational choice model when making their self-employment decision. For that, we account for the reasons why they enter into self-employment (voluntarily or involuntarily either out of necessity or requested by the former employer). The results indicate that involuntary self-employment, mostly due to being required by previous employer, significantly increases the probability of being dependent solo versus nondependent self-employed. The wealthiest countries have a lower incidence of this group of workers, mainly if they are involuntary self-employed. Moreover, labour market institutions that decrease the flexibility of paid employment tend to increase the incidence of dependent solo self-employment. These results point to this group of workers being particularly vulnerable with the degree of vulnerability significantly increasing for those self-employed with a lesser degree of occupational choice.