Financial hardship and well-being: a cross-national comparison among the European self-employed

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual research model.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics on country level.

	N round 2004	N round 2010	Total N	Unemployment allowance	Self-employment rate 2004 (%)	Self-employment rate 2010 (%)
Austria	208	0	208	No	13	11.6
Belgium	179	168	347	Yes	14.7	14.4
Bulgaria	0	119	119	No	15.8	12.8
Cyprus	0	179	179	Yes	23.7	18.6
Czech Republic	209	221	430	No	16.9	17.7
Germany	236	267	503	No	12.1	11.6
Denmark	144	142	286	No	8.8	9.1
Estonia	107	104	211	No	9.3	8
Spain	223	264	487	Yes	18.1	16.8
Finland	229	232	461	No	12.5	13.4
France	0	161	161	Yes	11	11.5
Greece	609	639	1248	Yes	36.6	36
HR	0	87	87	Yes	24.1	22.6
Hungary	0	105	105	No	14.4	12.3
Ireland	270	280	550	Yes	17.9	16.9
Israel	0	232	232	Yes	13.2	12.8
Iceland	74	0	74	No	13.2	12.4
Litwania	0	16	16	No	18.8	11
Luxembourg	156	0	156	No	8.2	8.2
The Netherlands	175	206	381	Yes	12.1	15
Norway	183	120	303	Yes	7.5	7.7
Poland	254	226	480	No	26.5	22.8
Portugal	286	309	595	No	25.9	22.8
Rusland	0	117	117	Yes	7.6	−^1
Sweden	195	169	364	Yes	10.5	10.9
Switzerland	257	174	431	No	16.2	15.3
Slovenia	69	93	162	Yes	15.6	17.3
Slovakia	112	150	262	Yes	12.1	16
Turkey	216	0	216	Yes	49.2	39.1
Ukraine	64	73	137	Yes	16.4	–
United Kingdom	192	255	447	No	13.1	14

Note: ¹Missings were replaced by the self-employment rate in 2004.

Table 2. Means, standard deviations, and correlation coefficients of the study variables (lower diagonal deaggregated variables; N = 9,755 self-employed workers; upper diagonal aggregated variables, d = 31 countries).

	Means	SD	Age	Gender	Education	Supervising	Children	Trust	Hardship	Well-being	Self-employment rate	Unemployment benefit
Individual level
Age	52.05	15.97	-	.05	−.12	.04	−.69**	.42	−.35*	.46**	−.12	−.46**
Gender^1	0.36	0.48	.002	-	.03	.16	−.10	−.29*	.42**	−.42**	.03	−.14
Higher education (edu)^2	0.17	0.38	−.12**	.03*		−.38**	.01	.19	−.13	.15	−.40**	−.08
Employer^3	0.61	0.49	.01	.15**	−.08**	-	−.11	−.28*	.35*	−.33*	.48**	−.16
Children^3	0.45	0.50	−.31**	.05**	.01	−.03	-	−.44**	.27	−.27	.26	.27
Social trust	4.96	2.07	.03**	.01	.12**	−.06**	−.03**	-	−.83**	.79**	−.68**	.02
Financial hardship	2.17	0.86	.08**	.09**	−.16**	.19**	.01	−.30**	-	−.44**	.38**	−.17**
Well-being	3.81	0.76	−.15**	−.04**	.13**	−.10**	.04**	.34**	−.86**	-	−.24**	−.05**
Country level
Self-employment rate	18.96	9.38	.02*	.01	−.17**	.14**	.04**	−.40**	.59**	−.45**	-	−.15
Unemployment benefit^3	0.47	0.50	−.12**	−.03**	.004	−.05**	.05**	.10**	−.09	−.09	−.34**	-

Note: ¹0 = male, 1 = female; ²0 < tertiary ba level, 1 ≥ tertiary ba level; ³0 = no, 1 = yes.

* p < .05; ** p < .01.

Table 3. Results of three-level regression models predicting well-being, direct effects, and moderation effects (N = 9,755 self-employed persons in 31 countries).

	Model 1 Controls only		Model 2 Direct effect hardship		Model 3 Individual level Moderation education		Model 4 Individual level Moderation social trust		Model 5 Cross-level Moderation self-employment rate		Model 6 Cross-level Moderation unemployment plan
	B	SE	B	SE	B	SE	B	SE	B	SE	B	SE
Gender	−.02	.02	.004	.01	.003	.01	.004	.01	.005	.01	.01	.01
Age	−.01***	.000	−.01***	.000	−.01***	.000	−.01***	.001	−.01***	.001	−.01***	.000
Higher education	.14**	.02	.07**	.02	.08**	.02	.07**	.02	.07**	.02	.07**	.02
Employer	−.08***	.02	−.02	.01	−.02	.01	−.02	.01	−.02	.01	−.02	.01
Children at home	.01	.02	.02	.01	.02	.01	.02	.01	.02	.02	.02	.01
Social trust	.09***	.004	.07***	.004	.07***	.004	.07***	.01	.07***	.003	.07***	.004
Country’s unemployment benefit	.13	.08	.12	.06	.13	.07	.13	.08	.13	.07	.13	.07
Country’s self-employment rate	−.01	.01	−.003	.004	−.002	.004	−.002	.004	−.002	.004	−.002	.004
Financial hardship			−.29***	.01	−.29***	.01	−.29***	.01	−.30***	.02	−.29***	.01
Financial hardship × moderator					.06*	.02	.02***	.004	−.001	.02	.07**	.03
Level 1 variance (person)	.44***	.01	.40***	.01	.40***	.01	.40***	.01	.39***	.01	.39***	.01
Level 2 variance (country)	.06***	.02	.03***	.01	.03***	.01	.03***	.01	.03**	.01	.03**	.01
Level 3 variance (time)	.01*	.004	.004*	.002	.004*	.002	.004*	.002	.003	.002	.003	.002
Random slope var.	-		-		-		-		.008*	.004	.007*	.002
–2*log likelihood/df	18371.43	12	17414.98	13	17408.91	14	17396.65	14	17368.96	15	17364.89	15
Δ—2*log likelihood/df ^1	897.1***	8	956.45***	1	6.07*	1	18.33**	1	46.02**	2	50.09**	2

Note: ¹In this table, Model 1 is compared to a 0-Model without predictors, Model 2 is compared to the controls-only model (Model 1), moderation models are compared to the direct-effect model (Model 2).

*p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.

Figure 2. Interaction effect of higher education and financial hardship on well-being.

Figure 3. Interaction effect of social trust and financial hardship on well-being.

Figure 4. Interaction effect of unemployment benefit and financial hardship on well-being.