Socio-economic Development of Self-Employment in Europe

Research question/goal: 

Since the 1980s the rate and number of self-employed workers increased in almost every Western European country. This growth has strongly influenced the recent debate about the replacement of traditional forms of employment. Further, it has raised the question about the causes of this increase. The project conducts a systematic comparative analysis in several European societies to describe the development in the various countries and to explain the differences between these countries in the context of specific national structures of incentives and opportunities for self-employed work. Of specific interest also are the implications of the developments for the composition in terms of social characteristics of the self-employed workers and their position in the social structure of advanced societies.

Fact sheet

Funding: 
Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung, MZES
Duration: 
1998 to 2002
Status: 
completed
Data Sources: 
European Labour Force Surveys
Geographic Space: 
Western Europe

Publications

Books

Arum, Richard, and Walter Müller (Eds.) (2004): The Reemergence of Self-Employment. A comparative study of self-employment dynamics and social inequality. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. more
Luber, Silvia (2003): Beruflich Selbständigkeit im Wandel. Ein empirischer Vergleich der sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Struktur Selbständiger in Deutschland und Großbritannien. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. [Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe XXII, Soziologie; 391] more
Müller, Walter, Henning Lohmann and Silvia Luber (Eds.) (2001): Self-employment in Advanced Economies (III)+(IV). Amonk, NY: Sharpe. [Special issues des International Journal of Sociology, vol. 31; 1+2] more
Müller, Walter, Henning Lohmann and Silvia Luber (Eds.) (2000): Self-employment in Advanced Economies (I)+(II). Amonk, NY: Sharpe. [Special issues of International Journal of Sociology, Vol. 30; 3+4] more

Journal Articles

Luber, Silvia, Henning Lohmann, Walter Müller and Paolo Barbieri (2000): Male Self-employment in Four European Countries. The Relevance of Education and Experience Across Industries. International Journal of Sociology, 30, issue 3, pp. 5-44. more
Luber, Silvia, and René Leicht (2000): Growing self-employment in Western Europe: an effect of modernization?. International Review of Sociology - Revue Internationale de Sociologie, 10, issue 1, pp. 101-123. more
Müller, Walter, Henning Lohmann and Silvia Luber (2000): Guest Editors' Introduction. Self-employment in Advanced Economies (I). International Journal of Sociology, 30, issue 3, pp. 3-4. more
Luber, Silvia, Markus Gangl and René Leicht (1997): Fehlende Kultur der Selbständigkeit? Selbständige Erwerbsarbeit in Deutschland im Vergleich mit anderen Industrieländern: Hintergründe des Süd-Nord-Gefälles. ifm-Strukturbericht Kurzinfo, issue 4, pp. 1-4. more

Book Chapters

Arum, Richard, and Walter Müller (2004): Preface. Pp. XV-XVII in: Richard Arum, Walter Müller (Eds.) The Reemergence of Self-Employment. A comparative study of self-employment dynamics and social inequality. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. more
Müller, Walter, and Richard Arum (2004): Self-Employment Dynamics in Advanced Economies. Pp. 1-35 in: Richard Arum, Walter Müller (Eds.) The Reemergence of Self-Employment. A comparative study of self-employment dynamics and social inequality. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. more
Arum, Richard, and Walter Müller (2004): The Reemergence of Self-Employment: Comparative Findings and Empirical Propositions. Pp. 426-454 in: Richard Arum, Walter Müller (Eds.) The Reemergence of Self-Employment. A comparative study of self-employment dynamics and social inequality. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. more
Lohmann, Henning, and Silvia Luber (2004): Trends in self-employment in Germany: different types, different developments?. Pp. 36-74 in: Richard Arum, Walter Müller (Eds.) The Reemergence of Self-Employment. A comparative study of self-employment dynamics and social inequality. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. more
Lohmann, Henning (2004): Berufliche Selbständigkeit von Frauen und Männern im internationalen Vergleich - Welche Rolle spielt die Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Erwerbstätigkeit?. Pp. 205-226 in: Günther Schmid, Markus Gangl, Peter Kupka (Eds.) Arbeitsmarktpolitik und Strukturwandel: Empirische Analysen. Nürnberg: IAB. more
Gangl, Markus (2003): Returns to education in context: individual education and transition outcomes in European labour markets. Pp. 156-185 in: Walter Müller, Markus Gangl (Eds.) Transitions from Education to Work in Europe. The integration of Youth into EU Labour Markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press. more
Leicht, René, and Silvia Luber (2002): Berufliche Selbständigkeit im internationalen Vergleich. Die Bedeutung moderner Dienstleistungen in der neuen Arbeitswelt. Pp. 61-93 in: Hubert Eichmann, Isabelle Kaupa, Karin Steiner (Eds.) Game Over? Neue Selbständigkeit und New Economy nach dem Hype. Wien: Falter. more
Luber, Silvia (1999): Die Entwicklung selbständiger Erwerbsarbeit in Westeuropa und den USA. Pp. 43-69 in: Dieter Bögenhold, Dorothea Schmidt (Eds.) Eine neue Gründerzeit? Die Wiederentdeckung kleiner Unternehmen in Theorie und Praxis. Berlin: Fakultas. more

MZES Working Papers

Lohmann, Henning (2001): Self-employed or employee, full-time or part-time? Gender differences in the determinants and conditions for self-employment in Europe and the US. Mannheim [Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung: Arbeitspapiere; 38] more
Lohmann, Henning, Silvia Luber and Walter Müller (1999): Who is Self-Employed in France, the United Kingdom and West Germany? Patterns of Non-Agricultural Self-Employment. Mannheim [Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung: Arbeitspapiere; 11] more
Luber, Silvia, and Markus Gangl (1997): Die Entwicklung selbständiger Erwerbstätigkeit in Westeuropa und den USA 1960-1995. Mannheim [Arbeitsbereich I; 16] more

Conference Presentations

Müller, Walter (2008): The Reemergence of Self-Employment. [Seminar of the Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, University of Trento, April 16th, 2008] more