Self-employment and Caring for Children: Evidence from Europe

Using data unique to the European Community Household Panel survey (ECHP), we examine the hypothesis that self-employed workers spend more time caring for children than do those in other forms of employment. Our results, for eleven western European countries, provide little support for the hypothesis, except in one or two countries, and only for women. Indeed, in many European nations, self-employed women on average spend less time caring for children than do other employed women.