Who Starts a Business and who is Self-Employed in Germany

Michael Fritsch (m.fritsch@uni-jena.de), Alexander Kritikos and Alina Rusakova (alina.rusakova@uni-jena.de)
Additional contact information
Alina Rusakova: School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Postal: Carl-Zeiß-Straße 3, 07743 Jena, Germany
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Alina Sorgner

No 2012-001, Jena Economics Research Papers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

Abstract: Based on representative data, the German Micro-Census, we provide an overview of the development of self-employment and entrepreneurship in Germany between 1991 and 2011, the first two decades after reunification. We investigate the socio-economic background of these individuals, their education, previous employment status, and their income level. We observe a unique increase in self-employment in Germany by 40 percent which can partly be attributed to the transformation process of East Germany and to the shift to the service sector. We notice a yearly start-up rate of 1 percent among the working population (almost 20 percent of them being re-starters), a decision that pays for the majority of individuals in terms of income. Contrary to other countries, in Germany there is a positive relationship between educational levels and the probability of starting a business.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Self-Employment; Start-ups; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-01-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-eur and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (47)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Who Starts a Business and Who Is Self-Employed in Germany (2012)
Working Paper: Who Starts a Business and Who is Self-Employed in Germany (2012)
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