خوداشتغالي در مقابل بيكاري (مورد ايران‌)

Self-Employment against Unemployment: The Case of Iranʹs Labour Market

This paper examines the effects of economic, cultural and environmental variables such as unemployment rate, education, and rural population ratio on the self-employment in Iranʹs labour market. This study investigates the relationship among variables by using central bankʹs data for 28 provinces over the period 1996 - 2003. The stylized facts of the study show that the self-employment has high employment capacity in the Iranʹs labour market. The estimates confirm that in most provinces, the unemployment rate and education have negative effects on self-employment rate while the rural population ratio effects positively the self-employment rate. Base on the evidence, when the level of education increases, it promotes peopleʹs incentives to move from selfemployment to work in public sector. Moreover, high unemployment affects negatively individualʹs expectations about the success of self-employment and reduces the self-employment rate.