Entries and Exits from Self-Employment in France Over the Last Twenty Years

Labor Force Surveys (LFS), which were conducted bythe French National Institute for Statistics and Economics Studies between 1982and 2002, are used to study changes in self-employment in France.First,French legislation concerning self-employment, especially subsidies encouragingentrepreneurial activity, is described.Next, the data are formallypresented, and three types of self-employment, including unskillednonprofessional, skilled nonprofessional, and professional, aredifferentiated. Analysis of the survey data, which provides month-by-month information onemployment status, reveals that the number of self-employed people in 2002represents a historical low.Although the share of professionalself-employment has increased by 50 percent, the share of skilledself-employment has declined significantly.As a result, the skills ofself-employed jobs are now very close to the average. These findings suggest that a lack of skills is becoming less of a handicapto launching a business and that having a self-employed father is an advantageto those wishing to enter self-employment.Overall, no profound change inself-employment entry or exit rates has taken place between 1982 and2002.The new forms of self-employment are neither more nor less stablethan the traditional ones. (SAA)