Are Self-Employed Time and Income Poor? A Microanalysis of the Dynamic Interdependent Multidimensional Poverty with the German Socio Economic Panel and the German Time Use Surveys (Sind Selbständige Zeit- Und Einkommensarm? Eine Mikroanalyse Der Dynamik Interdependenter Multidimensionaler Armut Mit Dem Sozio-Ökonomischen Panel Und Den Deutschen Zeitbudgeterhebungen)

It is common sense that the self-employed – as professions and entrepreneurs – are rich by money and, because of their independence and time sovereignty, are rich by time, too. However, time stress and the variety of small businesses sometimes tell another story. This study tries to shed empirically based light on the issue and its dynamics by asking not only about income poverty but also about time poverty within the framework of a new interdependent multidimensional poverty approach. Database is the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) for the evaluation of the substitution/trade-off of genuine leisure time and income as well as the German Time Use Surveys (GTUS) 1991/92 and 2001/02 for the actual poverty analyses. Main result: The self-employed are more often affected by single income poverty, single time poverty as well as interdependent multidimensional time and income poverty than all other poor employees (“working poor”) for both periods of observation. A remarkable percentage of not income poor but time poor employees in general, and the self-employed in particular, is not able to compensate their time deficit by income. Neglecting the self-employed in the poverty and well-being discussion would disregard an important group of the “working poor”