The Glass Cage: The Gender Pay Gap and Self Employment in the United States
Self employment is often viewed as a more desirable work arrangement than working as an employee for a firm. Women are pushed into self employment due to organizational factors, such as a shrinking workforce or limited job opportunities, while being attracted to self employment by the many psychological and social benefits (e.g. independence, flexibility, work life balance, job satisfaction) Despite more women moving into self employment, this type of employment still has different financial consequences for men and women. This article investigates whether a pay gap exists for self employed women after controlling for industry, occupation, and hours worked and seeks to quantify the gender wage gap for the self employed. A sample of 467 self employed independent contractors in the United States was examined from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce. The results indicate a large financial disparity between self employed women and men. On average men earned $54,959 as compared to women who ear.