Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/324201 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
MAGKS Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics No. 13-2025
Publisher: 
Philipps-University Marburg, School of Business and Economics, Marburg
Abstract: 
We conduct a large-scale experiment in the labor market using more than 8,000 fictitious resumes to uncover the demand-side mechanisms behind the wage penalty for the self- employed. We find that self-employed individuals, compared to wage earners, are subject to adverse treatment across different occupations. This adverse treatment is concentrated in the lower-skilled, non-managerial market. This differential treatment, conditional on managerial skills, also holds for different occupational levels and increases with the length of self- employment experience. The results suggest that self-employment leads to the development of generalist skills (useful for managerial roles) at the cost of specialist skills.
Subjects: 
Self-employment
Field experiment
Skills mismatch
Wage penalty
Managerial skills
Specialist skills
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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