Towards researching decent self-employment: a three country comparison of social protection for the self-employed

Weicht, Rebecca (2023) Towards researching decent self-employment: a three country comparison of social protection for the self-employed. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

In the UK, before the Covid-19 pandemic, self-employment was at an all-time high and a distinguishing feature of the UK labour market's recovery from the last recession. Yet, the solo self-employed often earned less than employees in a comparable position. Thus, the great risk of volatile and low income for the selfemployed makes welfare provision for them a policy problem of growing importance. In this thesis, I analyse welfare systems as they relate to the solo self-employed so that we can understand them better, compare them, and research their effects. I, so, give moral and practical purpose to the process of effectively engaging the research community in the policy problem of how to shape welfare systems that enable decent self-employment. My research focus is on de-commodifying entrepreneur labour and the entrepreneurial process, applying Esping-Andersen's de-commodification concept for the first time to self-employment. I define six causes of low profit that force an entrepreneur to conceivably need de-commodification. I use this conceptual framework to compare the welfare systems of the UK, Germany, and Denmark, each with different traditions and views of the role of the welfare state, and, in so doing, consider how welfare regimes vary in enabling or constraining room for decommodification for the solo self-employed. Based on document analysis of welfare regulations and guidance, and semistructured interviews with welfare and self-employment experts, I compare and discuss the conditions linked to receiving benefits in each of the three welfare states. I also explore the policy rationale and policy discourse arising from traditional practice and economic circumstances. My research contributes to three areas of knowledge. In relation to welfare theory, for the first time, I apply the thinking on de-commodification to self-employment. In relation to entrepreneurship research, my research shows that welfare systems should be considered part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Moreover, my work challenges entrepreneurship theory as it does not usually discuss labour as an entrepreneurial resource, whereas I explicitly consider how much labour an entrepreneur is willing and able to invest. In terms of implications for decency, my work contributes to the thinking about and discussion of decent work in general and amid the rise of self-employment specifically. My research has implications for policy and opens up and important research agenda. It highlights the dilemmas that policymakers face when considering how to support entrepreneurs at risk of low or no income. Self-employment cannot be decent in all circumstances, and policymakers must consider in which circumstances the state would accept to support self-employment.