Disadvantaged Groups

The document analyses the groups that are less represented in self-employment activities:

  • Persons with disabilities
  • Women
  • Young people (20-29 years old)
  • Seniors
  • Immigrants and refugees

According to OECD3, in 2018:

  • persons with disabilities’ the self-employ- ment rates in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithua- nia, Slovenia and Slovakia were below the 5% level in 2007, while the rates exceed the 15% level in Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Poland, Portugal and Romania
  • women represented 32.7% of self-employed workers in the European Union (EU). More- over, women are less likely than men to employ others (23.3% vs. 30.9% in 2018). Only 2.9% of women in the EU were actively trying to start a business between 2014 and 2014 compared to 5.3% of men (5.3% vs. 7.9% in OECD countries);
  • youth (20-29 years old) made up 8.2% of self-employed workers (Figure 1.2). Only 15.9% of self-employed youth had employ- ees in 2018;
  • immigrants are slightly under-represented in self-employment relative to the share of immigrants among employees. Those born outside of the EU accounted for 8.4% of employees but only 7.3% of the self-em- ployed, while those born in another EU Member State represented 4.9% of em- ployees and 4.4% of the self-employed. Moreover, the self-employment rate of im- migrants who were born outside of the EU was 13.1% in 2018, while it was 13.7% for those born in other EU Member States;
  • seniors (50-64 years old) are over-represented in self-employment but face strong barriers to business creation rate and could play an even greater role in entrepreneurship. Among seniors, the share of the self-employed among those active in the labour market tends to increase with age