Self-Employment Matching : An Analysis of Dual Earner Couples and Working Households

The degree to which intra-couple and intra-householdfactors influence self-employment is investigated. After a review of theliterature on the relationship between household influences and employmenttype, data on 31,862 workers who participated in Great Britain's FamilyExpenditure Survey (FES) are used to determine how frequently individualswithin a couple or household are characterized by similar types ofemployment. Covering the period between 1996 and 2000, the data suggest that individualsare likely to group with other individuals with similar types of employment.This finding holds particularly true for self-employed individuals. Oneexplanation for these results is that the benefits from enhanced earnings forself-employed couples and households may be of sufficient magnitude to offsetthe incomes risks associated with self-employment. (SAA)