Occupational skill mismatch in self-employment: prevalence and income implications

Pankaj C. Patel

International Journal of Manpower, 2025, vol. 46, issue 10, 148-168

Abstract: Purpose - This study explores the relationship between occupational skill mismatch and self-employment, examining both the likelihood of self-employment among those experiencing skill mismatches and the subsequent impact on entrepreneurial earnings. Design/methodology/approach - We analyze data from the REFLEX Project involving 17,623 respondents across 13 countries, complemented by a post-hoc analysis of 43,536 respondents from the PIAAC dataset spanning 24 countries. Our methodology combines logistic regression to examine self-employment choice and OLS regression to analyze income effects. Findings - Our analysis reveals three key findings: (1) in the REFLEX data, individuals reporting higher skill differences are more likely to be self-employed; (2) among self-employed individuals in the REFLEX sample, higher skill differences are associated with significantly lower income levels (negative interaction effect) and (3) in the PIAAC data, we find consistent effects. Originality/value - This research provides an analysis of how occupational skill mismatches influence both self-employment choices and income outcomes across diverse geographic contexts. Our findings contribute to understanding the entrepreneurial earnings puzzle and offer practical implications for policymakers designing support programs for self-employed individuals.

Keywords: Skill mismatch; Self-employment; Human capital; Entrepreneurial earnings gap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (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:eme:ijmpps:ijm-07-2024-0493

DOI: 10.1108/IJM-07-2024-0493

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Manpower is currently edited by Professor Adrian Ziderman

More articles in International Journal of Manpower from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().