The Pleasures and Pains of Self-Employment: A Panel Data Analysis of Satisfaction with Life, Work, and Leisure

Peter van der Zwan, Jolanda Hessels and Cornelius A. Rietveld
Additional contact information
Peter van der Zwan: Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Jolanda Hessels: Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Cornelius A. Rietveld: Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

No 15-099/VII, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: We investigate how a transition from paid employment to self-employment in the labor market influences life satisfaction. Furthermore, we consider the dynamics of work and leisure satisfaction because the balance between work and leisure is an important element of life satisfaction. Fixed-effects regressions using German Socio-Economic Panel data (1984-2012) reveal that switching to self-employment benefits life and work satisfaction. The effects on life satisfaction are weak and temporary, but they are pronounced and relatively persistent for work satisfaction. However, the gain in work satisfaction is outweighed by a decrease in leisure satisfaction, thus placing work-life balance under severe pressure.

Keywords: Self-employment; Entrepreneurship; Life satisfaction; Work satisfaction; Work-life balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J24 J28 J31 L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-08-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-eur, nep-ger, nep-hap, nep-hrm and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://papers.tinbergen.nl/15099.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tin:wpaper:20150099

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 ().