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

Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project survey, we find that self-employed women have lower levels of well-being compared with their male counterparts. When comparing individuals' well-being in self-employment and wage-employment, we discover that self-employed men have higher levels of health, the standard of living, satisfaction, and life satisfaction compared with 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 been selected for wage employment, their well-being would not improve (controlling for individual characteristics that affect the 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.