Well-Being of Self-Employed Individuals Across Skill Levels: Empirical Evidence from the World Values Survey

Well-Being of Self-Employed Individuals Across Skill Levels: Empirical Evidence from the World Values Survey. Like paid employees, individuals who pursue self-employment possess varying skill levels, which may significantly influence their well-being. This raises a key question: does the well-being of highly skilled self-employed individuals differ from that of their low-skilled counterparts? To address this question, the present study offers empirical evidence by comparing hedonic and eudaimonic well-being across the two groups. Drawing on the Job Demands–Resources model, we test hypotheses related to freedom, health, happiness, and financial and life satisfaction among 11,600 respondents from 64 countries, using data from the World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017–2022). The findings reveal that while semi-and high-skilled self-employed individuals report better health, they experience lower levels of financial and life satisfaction compared to their unskilled peers. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that the well-being of self-employed individuals is not homogeneous but is partly explained by their skill level.