Female self-employment and demand for flexible, nonstandard work schedules

Motivated by the rising importance of female self-employment, this article develops and estimates a two-step empirical model to explain why married women choose self-employment over wage-salary employment. The article also develops a bounded influence regression model to estimate self-employment wage equations. In sum, a woman is more likely to choose self-employment the greater her relative earnings potential as self-employed, the greater her demand for flexibility, the greater her demand for a nonstandard work week, and if her husband has health insurance. The increase in women's earnings potential as self-employed explains most of the increase in their self-employment from 1979 to 1990.     

The male/female earnings gap and female self-employment

This paper examines the gender differences in the choice to become self-employed. Of particular interest is the relationship between the male/female earnings gap in wage and self-employment, and the male/female differences in the average predicted probability of self-employment. It has been argued that earnings inequality in wage-employment lead women to choose self-employment. However, it may be the case that inequality in the form of consumer discrimination causes an earnings gap between males and females in self-employment. If inequality is higher in self-employment than in wage-employment, then there would be females in wage-employment who would be in self-employment in the absence of inequality in both sectors.     

Low-skilled immigrant entrepreneurship

More than ? of the foreign born workforce in the US have no schooling beyond high school and about 20% of the low-skilled workforce are immigrants. More than 10% of these low-skilled immigrants are self-employed. Utilizing longitudinal data from the 1996, 2001 and 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation panels, this paper analyzes the returns to self-employment among low-skilled immigrants. We find that the returns to low-skilled self-employment among immigrants is higher than it is among natives but also that wage/salary employment is a more financially rewarding option for most low-skilled immigrants. In analyses of earnings differences, we find that most of the 20% male native-immigrant earnings gap among low-skilled business owners can be explained primarily by differences in the ethnic composition. Low-skilled female foreign born entrepreneurs are found to have earnings roughly equal to otherwise observationally similar self-employed native born women.     

Self-employment,earnings, and sexual orientation

Although many studies document differences by sexual orientation in earnings and other labor-market outcomes, little is known about differences in self-employment. Our study contributes to both the self-employment literature and sexual-orientation literature by analyzing differences in self-employment rates and earnings by sexual orientation. Gay men are less likely to be self-employed than married men, whereas lesbians are equally likely to be self-employed as married women. We find that gay men earn less than married men. We do find, however, that for those gay men who are self-employed, there is little evidence of a further earnings penalty, at least among full-time workers. Lesbians earn at least as much as married women, but receive no further earnings premium—or penalty—by being self-employed, again among full-time workers.     

Self-employment and family life: constructing work–life balance when you're ‘always on’

This study explores how men and women who are self-employed and have children living at home construct work–life balance. Guided by the concept of work–life fit, in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 parents who were self-employed and had at least one dependent child. Using thematic analysis, the first theme, ‘in control,’ related primarily to schedule flexibility but also extended to income opportunities and, sometimes, to job security. Feelings of control were experienced and expressed in relation to shortcomings of previous job experiences, business location, and preferences for raising children. The second theme, ‘always on,’ meant that parents expected to be both readily accessible to children and available to clients, while continually pursuing income opportunities. This contributed to time pressure, although some viewed participation in volunteer and children's activities as a form of business networking. Work–life balance was described in terms of time, activity, or experience. Most participants believed self-employment contributes positively, but some questioned whether work–life balance is possible. Parents mostly followed traditional gender role patterns. Some fathers resisted this arrangement and saw self-employment as a way to participate more actively in family life. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.     

Transmission of self-employment across immigrant generations: the importance of ethnic background and gender

This paper studies the intergenerational transmissions of self-employment abilities among immigrants in Sweden. The results show that second-generation immigrants are over-represented in self-employment compared to natives. Male immigrants from countries neighbouring to Sweden and natives alike seem to use both mothers and fathers as role models in their self-employment decision, but the father is the stronger role model among male immigrants from more geographically distant regions. Female immigrants use both their father and their mother as role models in their self-employment decision. Furthermore, male immigrants and male natives tend to become self-employed in the same business sector as their fathers; female immigrants and female natives with self-employed parents are over-represented in self-employment but not necessarily in the same business sector as their parents.     

Self-employment and earnings among immigrants in Australia

This article contributes to the small Australian literature on the earnings of immigrants in the self-employment sector. Earnings functions for both the foreign-born and Australian-born are estimated, and the results show that compared with native-born workers, foreign-born workers have higher earnings in the wage/salary sector but lower earnings in the self-employment sector.
Among the foreign-born, the results suggest that self-employed immigrants are less skilled compared with those who are wage/salary employed. Thus, low-skilled immigrants may be forced into self-employment.
There is no evidence of immigrant "catch-up" in the self-employment sector. Among wage/salary workers, however, immigrant wages are characterized by a "catch-up" effect.     

Domestic Division of Labor and Self/Organizationally Employed Differences in Job Attitudes and Earnings

This study analyzes the association between self-employment and work-related outcomes including negative spillover between work and home, earnings, and job attitudes. National Study of the Changing Work Force 1997 data support the idea that self-employment provides workers with more scope for matching work activities to their presumed roles in the domestic division of labor. Among married women, the self-employed experience is associated with less negative spillover from job-to-home, greater job satisfaction, and less job burnout. Where pre-school children are present, the earnings of self-employed women are much less than the earnings of the organizationally employed. Among men, self-employment is associated with more job-to-home spillover when there are small children in the family, and with greater job satisfaction.     

Does higher education make a difference? The influence of educational attainment on women's and men's nonstandard employment outcomes

Some studies suggest that women and the less educated are more likely to be employed in nonstandard work. However, conflicting evidence has indicated that temporary, part-time, and nonstandard self-employment has diffused across different social groups and levels of education. Using pooled data from the 1997–2018 Canadian Labour Force Surveys, this study explores the changing relationship between higher education, gender, and employment outcomes. Taking a multiple logistic regression approach, this study accomplishes three objectives: (1) to examine the relationship between gender and education among different forms of nonstandard employment; (2) to investigate the changes of different forms of nonstandard employment between 1997 to 2018; (3) to analyze the association between men's and women's education and their likelihood of different forms of nonstandard employment are explored. The findings suggest the feminization of employment norms, in which men and women have had some convergence in certain types of nonstandard employment. This result holds across most levels of education, but is more pronounced for women and men with higher levels of education.     

Gender discrimination and self-employment dynamics in Europe

This paper examines the effect that gender-based earnings discrimination has on self-employment dynamics among females, with a focus on four countries in Western Europe. Using data from the European Community Household Panel in the 1999–2001 time period, we test the hypothesis that the probability of moving into self-employment is positively related to prior earnings discrimination, as measured by unexplained deviations from expected (male) earnings. Our findings suggest that women who have lower than expected wage sector earnings are more likely to leave wage employment in the following year. The results with respect to discrimination, per se, however, are mixed.     

Gender and self-employment selection: An empirical assessment

This paper presents a unique assessment of the factors that influence men's and women's decisions to switch from wage employment to self-employment; virtually all studies of self-employment entry have heretofore focussed solely upon men. Using longitudinally matched data from the Current Population Survey, novel empirical patterns adduced here include: (1) the relatively strong, positive influence of fertility upon women's selection into self-employment; (2) the greater propensity of small business employees to switch to self-employment; and (3) the significant relationship between wage-sector occupation and predisposition to self-employment.     

Becoming Self-Employed

This study explored how persons become self-employed. In critical incident interviews (Flanagan, 1954) with 5 self-employed persons, the critical events that assisted or hindered progress toward self-employment were elicited in chronological order. First, the 108 incidents were organized into 22 categories. Next, using the chronological order of categories of events, 2 basic patterns or plots for becoming self-employed were identified. Last, 8 distinctive themes of personal progress in the patterns were described. In general, becoming self-employed involved establishing conditions of action that enhanced a sense of agency, enabling each person to make a decision.     

The Self-Employment of Men and Women: What are their Motivations?

Do men and women carry different motivations for entering self-employment? Earlier researchers have suggested that, as primary care givers for children and families, women face a more stringent time constraint relative to men. Thus, where men see self-employment as a chance for greater financial opportunity, women see a chance to take work that allows more time at home. This paper investigates this hypothesis using unique data that allow analysis of individual self-employment as a function of traditional economic and demographic variables as well as variables that partially capture individuals’ opinions and perceptions of pecuniary and nonpecuniary aspects of entrepreneurism. Results suggest that men who choose self-employment are influenced principally by pecuniary concerns, while women are influenced principally by family concerns and by the opinions of their family, friends, and peers.     

“He’s Not Good at Sensing That Look That Says,I’m Drowning Here!” Academic Mothers’ Perceptions of Spousal Support

Abstract

Research consistently shows that, regardless of increased parental involvement in child-rearing over the last few decades, the ‘lion’s share’ of childcare and housework is still undertaken by women rather than men. Academia is known to have no fixed working hours as such. As a result, the pressure on academic mothers tends to be inflated, and this has repercussions on women’s promotional paths, publishing outcomes and general professional and personal well-being. The positive effect of working women having spousal support is well documented in many employment areas. This paper looks at perceived spousal support which academic mothers, living and working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), report. While some of the women did report their spouses to be supportive, this was often theoretical rather than practical. The ways in which this spousal support situation has affected the academic mothers’ lives is discussed.     

Young Women's Job Mobility: The Influence of Motherhood Status and Education

Previous research has found that women who become mothers in their 20s face larger wage penalties compared to women who delay childbearing until their 30s. Explanations for this have focused on the consequences of employment breaks early in one's career and reduced opportunities in the workplace following the birth of a child. In this article, the author uses panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (N = 4,566) to examine another possible explanation: differences in patterns of and wage returns to job mobility. She found that young mothers, relative to childless women, make fewer wage‐enhancing voluntary job separations and often receive lower wage returns for these separations. Educational attainment exacerbates these patterns, largely to the disadvantage of women with less education.     

‘Scarred’ young entrepreneurs. Exploring young adults’ transition from former unemployment to self-employment

The recent increase in youth unemployment has major implications for the current and future development of European labour markets. Previous studies reveal the long lasting ‘scarring effects’ of early unemployment experience on later career prospects, including a higher probability of future unemployment or social exclusion. Self-employment is often advocated as a potential remedy for unemployment in general and youth unemployment in particular. In this study, we investigate the individual-level factors that lead young people with the ‘scar’ of previous unemployment to engage in self-employment. Based on a recent survey among young adults in eleven European countries, we show that previous unemployment has a significant moderating effect on other individual-level characteristics usually associated with a higher likelihood of being self-employed. While the overall propensity of self-employment is not affected by unemployment experience, the reasons for becoming one’s own boss differ considerably between those young adults who have and those who have not experienced unemployment in the past.     

Gender,Productivity, and the Marital Wage Premium

Explanations for married men’s wage premium often emphasize greater market productivity due to a gendered division of household labor, though this “specialization thesis” has been insufficiently interrogated. Using data from Wave 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 972), this paper examines the relationship between wages and time spent in paid labor and housework for married women and men with high levels of labor force attachment and their spouses. Scrutiny of couples’ time use finds strong evidence for the gendered division of labor, but little support for the anticipated wage effects of the specialization thesis itself. Less strict sample restrictions point to the need for continued research directed at couples’ joint employment and household labor decisions.     

Sexual orientation and self-employment: New evidence

Early studies and theory suggest sexual minorities are drawn towards the relative independence of self-employment to avoid discrimination in paid employment. However, recent evidence is mixed, suggesting that a higher propensity for self-employment (relative to heterosexual people) is found only among lesbian women relative to heterosexual women. This study overcomes the data limitations of prior research by using data pooled from 2007–2017 cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) and multivariate logistic regression to provide new evidence on LGB self-employment. The results show that self-employment is particularly high for bisexual people, especially bisexual women—but not for gay men or lesbian women. Overall, this study examines the enduring but nuanced relationship between self-employment and sexual orientation and discusses countervailing factors related to socio-economic resources, gender, and family structure.     

The changing nature of work among the self-employed in the 1990s: Evidence from Britain

We use British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data to examine the changing nature of work among the British self-employed in the 1990s. In the process we uncover several surprises and puzzles given the body of “received wisdom” about growing flexibility of work and employment patterns in that decade. Conventional wisdom implies three hypotheses: (1) growing female self-employment; (2) growing flexibility of employment involving more part-time work, temporary employment, and multiple job holding; and (3) a convergence in work hours between males and females. The principal surprises are that the data refute the first two hypotheses outright and provide only partial support for the third. An outstanding puzzle is why own-account, self-employed males work such long hours for wages that are generally lower than those of employees. At the same time, the self-employed are less satisfied with their work hours than employees are, despite being more satisfied on average with other characteristics of their jobs and with their lives in general. We estimate a panel data work hours equation by instrumental variables in an effort to resolve the puzzle and to shed light on self-employed labor supply behavior.     

Market hours,household work,child care,and wage rates of partners: an empirical analysis

The aim of this paper is to provide new evidence on the effect of partners’ wages on partners’ allocation of time. Earlier studies concluded that wage rates are an important determinant of partners’ hours of market and non-market work and also that house work may lower married women’s wage rates. However, the bulk of earlier literature in this area failed to account for the endogeneity of wages or the simultaneity of partners’ time allocation choices. Here we take a reduced form approach and specify a ten simultaneous equations model of wage rates, employment and hours of market work, house work and childcare of parents. Non-participants are included in the model. We exploit a rich time use dataset for France to estimate the model. We find that the own wage affects positively own market hours and negatively own house work and childcare hours. The wage of the father has a significantly negative effect on the mother’s market hours while her wage rate has a significantly positive effect on his house work hours.