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Alte und neue Selbständigkeit in Deutschland

Abstract

Since the last century, it seems that Germany, like other industrial countries, has changed more and more towards a society of employees. Whereas in the years before 1914 more than one fifth of the labour force worked as self-employed or as employers, this rate turned down to less than one tenth in the 1970s. In the last decades, the rate is augmenting again and this rises the question, if a situation comparable to the one ninety years earlier is reemerging. Indeed, some patterns – e.g. the importance of self-employed, the situation of women – resemble to former times. Nevertheless, if one considers the reasons for the economic survival of self-employed and of small employers, there are great differences.