Self-employment plays an important role as the foundation of our economy and as an economic and social safety net. However, profitability declines and business difficulties are continuing, and as the recent Covid-19 pandemic has prolonged, a large number of business closures have occurred.

In order for the self-employed community to become a healthy and sustainable ecosystem, it is necessary to explore the underlying causes of management difficulties in multiple ways and design comprehensive policies based on them, beyond short-term income or expense support. Therefore, this study comprehensively diagnoses the management vulnerability of self- employment from various viewpoints of industrial organization, labor economics, macroeconomics, and financial economics and presents necessary policy directions.

Chapter 1, “Determinants of the proportion of self-employed and excess level” proceeds with an empirical analysis on the long and short term trend of the size and proportion of self-employed and their determinants. Furthermore, by deriving an appropriate number of self-employed suitable for the scale of the Korean economy and an excess level, the paper examines causes of the profitability decline.

Next, Chapter 2, “Choice and Motivation for Self-Employment” analyzes the life cycle patterns in which individuals choose self-employment and the main motives considered when entering.

Entry into self-employment can be influenced by various institutional factors governing the labor market. For this topic, Chapter 3, “Factors for the change in the number of self-employed persons in Korea,” describes changes in Korea's demographic structure and economic and labor market factors for identifying their impact on the number of self-employed.

Furthermore, the size of the current self-employed can be related to the degree of exit as well as entry. Therefore, Chapter 4 “Effect of financial support policy for individual business owners” examines the effects of the government financial support system on individual owners’ sales and the prevention of business closure.

By adding a wealth of analysis to these various topics, the authors examine various difficulties seen in the domestic self-employed industry in fundamental and multifaceted ways, and eventually provide detailed and comprehensive policy suggestions.

Preface
Executive Summary

Chapter 1 Determinants and Excess Levels of the Self-Employment Rate: A Comparative Analysis Among OECD Countries
　Section 1 Introduction
　Section 2 Review of Previous Studies and Unique Contributions of This Study
　Section 3 Trends in the Proportion and Scale of Self-Employment in Korea
　Section 4 International Comparison of Self-Employment Proportions in OECD Countries
　Section 5 Analysis of Determinants of Self-Employment Proportion
　Section 6 Analysis of the Adequacy and Excess of Self-Employment in Korea
　Section 7 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
　References

Chapter 2 Self-Employment Choices and Motivations Across the Life Cycle
　Section 1 Introduction: Comprehensive Understanding of the Heterogeneity in Self-Employment
　Section 2 Definitions and Characteristics of Self-Employment
　Section 3 Life-Cycle Patterns of Entry and Exit in Self-Employment
　Section 4 Motivations for Choosing Self-Employment: Opportunity vs. Necessity
　Section 5 Conclusion and Policy Implications
　References

Chapter 3 Factors Influencing Changes in the Number of the Self-Employed in Korea
　Section 1 Purpose of the Study
　Section 2 Changes in the Number of Self-Employed in Korea
　Section 3 Potential Factors Behind Changes in Self-Employment Since 2002
　Section 4 Analysis of Decreases in Self-Employment Using Occupational Choice Models
　Section 5 Summary and Policy Implications
　References

Chapter 4 The Impact of Financial Support Policies on Individual Business Owners
　Section 1 Introduction
　Section 2 Review of Previous Studies and Unique Contributions of This Study
　Section 3 Overview of Support Policies for Small Business Owners
　Section 4 Research Models and Data Description
　Section 5 Empirical Analysis Results
　Section 6 Conclusion: Summary and Implications
　References
　Appendices

ABSTRACT