Analysis of Factors Contributing to the Formal Self-employment Development in the Context of Digitalization

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyse the influence of unemployment, education and Internet subscriptions on the level of official self-employment as a form of entrepreneurial activity in the era of digital production. The authors applied a method of fixed-effects panel analysis to investigate the influence of studied factors on the dynamics of own-account workers. The dataset covers statistics of 36 OECD countries with sustainable development for 2000–2019. The study revealed that the level of compulsory education, as well as fixed broadband Internet subscriptions, is of the most significant importance for the development of official self-employment. Also, we discovered an inverse relationship between the growth of own-account workers and the unemployment rate among people with intermediate education. The results of the analysis allow to identify the significance of the factors studied in the development of formal self-employment, to recognize trends in the self-employment development, and to formulate a policy for managing official self-employment taking into account relevant factors. The presented study empirically promotes knowledge about the role of education, unemployment, the Internet subscriptions in official self-employment development, as a form of entrepreneurial activity, and as an alternative to regular employment.