Employment and health among older people: self-employment vs. wage employment

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (19) ◽  
pp. 1574-1580
Author(s):  
Taehyun Ahn
2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-228
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Mohammed ◽  
Priscilla Twumasi Baffour ◽  
Wassiuw Abdul Rahaman

In an extensive review of wage determination papers, it is concluded that the standard demographic and human capital factors explain little of earning differentials. Consequently, there is a growing interest among economists to include non-cognitive skills measured by personality traits in recent empirical literature to explain variations in earnings. In a bid to contribute empirical evidence to this strand of literature, this study examines the associations between the Big-Five personality traits (i.e., agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, extraversion and neuroticism) and earnings, using the World Bank’s Skills towards Employment and Productivity (STEP) data on Ghana. The study employed regression techniques to estimate a series of semi-logarithmic wage equations that include demographic and human capital factors and the Big-Five personality traits to determine how important these factors are in explaining wage and self-employment earnings. Furthermore, the estimations of the wage equations are done separately for males and females to highlight any gender differences in the way personality traits contribute to earnings. Findings are largely consistent with the literature but uniquely demonstrate that in a power-distant culture like Ghana, where, traditionally, girl-child education has been relegated to the background, agreeable females, and not males, are rewarded in the formal wage employment labour market. However, in the informal self-employment labour market, conscientious males, and not females, are positively rewarded with higher earnings. These unique findings contribute to our understanding of the gender differences in the relative importance of non-cognitive skills in the formal and informal labour markets. JEL Codes: J31, J24


2007 ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Falter

The present study attempts to explain the difference in observed earning inequality between self-employment and wage-employment in Switzerland in 1992, 1995 and 2000. We use several measures of inequality in order both to determine the factors affecting income dispersion in the two groups and to identify the variables that drive the earning inequality differential. Thus, we make use of discrete decomposition techniques and of a regression-based method. The latter allows us to introduce a selection term in our decompositions which is of crucial importance in the case of self-employment. Our results indicate that education- and age-related variables, like work experience and tenure, are the most important factors explaining the inequality level in both groups. The importance of these factors seems, however, to be larger in the wage-employment sector. The reason may lie in the process of selection into selfemployment rather than in the differences in the returns to characteristics between the two sectors.


2015 ◽  
Vol 221 ◽  
pp. 229-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Song

AbstractThe rise of private sector business in urban China has led to more women engaging in low-end self-employment. This study, however, reveals a more complicated story in the countryside. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted in a Chinese village, this study finds that the women took the lead in developing sideline self-employment and were then attracted to rural wage employment in the 1980s. With the privatization of rural industries and the rise of capital-intensive self-employment in the 1990s, some women were forced into low-end self-employment, but others were attracted to high-end self-employment, forging individual careers and family ventures. In more recent times, younger women have been more inclined to work on-and-off, balancing self-employment pursuits with the desire to be a good mother. This pattern marks a shift from the continuous multitasking practised by the older generation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 139-148
Author(s):  
Md. Abdul Khaleque ◽  
Mehadi Hasan ◽  
Farah Muneer

This paper examined the impact on employment of a credit plus program designed for ultra-poor households in the Northwest region of Bangladesh. Both descriptive and econometric techniques were used, and four regression models were estimated for each of the dependent variables with linear and log-lin specifications: one is a simple model considering only time effect and program effect, and the others were the extended models which included various characteristics of the households and the regions. The descriptive analysis showed that most of the beneficiary households had shifted from single earning members to multiple earning members. Women had started to contribute to household earnings. The results showed that the participant ultra-poor households had gained around 21.1% additional employment days due to the program participation opportunities within 2008-2013, with an annual rate of 4.2% gain. The extra earning days included wage-employment days and self-employment days and the results showed that due to the program, the wage-employment days had increased by 2.6% annually and the self-employment days increased by 6.6% annually holding the effects of other explanatory variables constant. The working days of non-participants had increased but at a lower rate than that of the program participant households. The results confirmed that the credit program for ultra-poor households had a significantly positive effect on the creation of employment days and employment opportunities.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherzodbek Safarov ◽  
Dilnovoz Abdurazzakova

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of the flat tax system on self-employment by necessity and by opportunity. Specifically, the paper examines whether individuals decide to switch from wage-employment to self-employment by necessity or by opportunity when government imposes a flat tax system. Design/methodology/approach To analyze the association of a flat tax system with occupational choice this paper uses both multinomial and ordinary logit models. In the multi-nominal logit model, this study separates dependent variables into three categories: wage employee, self-employed by necessity and self-employed by opportunity. In the second step of analyzes using the ordinary logit model, this paper studies only self-employed individuals by distinguishing them according to their preferences. Findings The results suggest that, in countries with the imposed flat tax system, the probability of being self-employed by necessity is low, while the probability of being self-employed by opportunity is high. Moreover, better economic growth in the country also elevates the chances of individuals to be self-employed by opportunity. Originality/value Out novel contribution is documenting that flat tax system in transition countries increases the number of individuals self-employed by opportunity compared to self-employed by necessity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen Mattes

Purpose – Should unsatisfied/satisfied entrepreneurs transition into wage-employment? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the financial, physical, social and emotional consequences of the decision. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses an Australian, nationally representative panel for two Bayesian multivariate regressions. Findings – Unsatisfied entrepreneurs that transition from self- to wage-employment improve their income, life and job satisfaction. For satisfied entrepreneurs, continuing or transitioning makes little difference: job and life satisfaction develop similarly. The health of continuing entrepreneurs suffers regardless of whether they are satisfied or unsatisfied. Research limitations/implications – Unobserved heterogeneity is only addressed within cohorts, not across cohorts. It is possible, that transitioning entrepreneurs are inherently different from continuing entrepreneurs. Further research could include a more fine-grained study of entrepreneurship’s negative health implications or include work-family balance as return to self-employment. Practical implications – The findings offer clear advice to entrepreneurs that are unsatisfied with their venture: they will likely benefit from transitioning to wage-employment. In addition, it offers a warning to individuals with existing health issues who are considering self-employment. Originality/value – Academic interest in entrepreneurship exit is growing. This paper is the first to study the financial, physical, social and emotional life consequences of both satisfied and unsatisfied entrepreneurs. It contributes to the discussion of what motivates entrepreneurs to become and remain self-employed.


1980 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Todd ◽  
Christopher Shaw

Late in 1979 the Zambian Government unveiled its Third National Development Plan which will guide policies until the year 1984, and this implies that problems of unemployment, particularly in urban areas, will be partly overcome by an expansion of self-employment possibilities.Such was the enthusiasm for the new initiative that the absence of reliable information surrounding it was largely ignored. This article attempts to provide relevant data concerning a number of issues which will be vital in implementing any measures to encourage self-employment in the so-called ‘informal sector’ of the Zambian economy. In particular we shall endeavour to quantify the likely flows into the labour force, particularly from the educational system, the possible growth of formal wage employment in urban areas, and the current size and composition of the informal sector. Finally, conclusions are drawn concerning the possible rôle of this sector in absorbing the unemployed in the plan period.


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