The job quality of self‑employment in Europe

This paper analyses changes in the job quality of self-employed people in European Union countries between 1995 and 2021, using self-reported data from the European Working and Living Conditions Survey. It finds that the self-employed generally have somewhat poorer levels of job quality than employees. Within the self-employment category, solo self-employed workers tend to face poorer conditions than the self-employed with employees. There are mixed trends over time in the job quality of self-employment. Measures of social environment and work autonomy for the self-employed have improved, whereas health and safety conditions have deteriorated, and time pressure increased. Some gaps in job quality between the self-employed and employees have narrowed, but disparities in job security and financial well-being have widened. The paper also points to a correlation between the quality of the entrepreneurial environment and the job quality of self-employment. This suggests that policy makers can favour improvements in self-employment quality with entrepreneurship policies aimed at improving the business environment.