The Decline of the Self-Employment Rate in Australia

This article uses Australian panel data to investigate the decline in the self-employment rate in Australia. Our analysis shows that the self-employment rate has declined in Australia because older workers, especially older female workers, remain longer in paid employment. We show that although the self-employment rate of older workers remains higher than that of younger workers, the gap has decreased. We argue that there is evidence that industry and institutional changes may have contributed to an increase in the labour force participation of older women and may explain why the decline of self-employment has been particularly pronounced for this group.