AUTHOR=Xiu Lin , Ren Yufei 

TITLE=Gain or loss? The well-being of women in self-employment

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.986288

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.986288

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project survey, we find that self-employed women have lower levels of well-being compared to their male counterparts. Comparing individuals’ well-being in self-employment and wage-employment, we discover that self-employed men have higher levels of health, standard of living, satisfaction, and life satisfaction compared to wage-employed men, whereas self-employed women have lower levels of health and life satisfaction than their counterparts in wage-employment. Furthermore, if a given self-employed man or woman had selected into wage-employment, their well-being would not improve (controlling for individual characteristics that affect likelihood to enter self-employment). Hence, self-employed women face a double challenge: lower well-being than both self-employed men and wage-employed women. The article discusses recommendations for future research and policy implications.