The self-employment rate furthermore varies significantly depending on the individual subject areas and on the regional location. Whereas natural scientists - for instance, physicists, chemists, and biologists - and engineers - for instance, mechanical and electrical engineers - rarely end up self-employed, an above-average number of doctors, pharmacists, psychologists, architects, artists and lawyers are self-employed.
On an average, the share of self-employed individuals among business people and economists is relatively high. Between 1991 and 1995, the self-employment rate among university graduates in the old federal states has increased by 1.7 per cent. Within the same period, the increase of self-employed individuals is even more pronounced in the new federal states with a rise of 6.1 per cent. In particular physicists, biologists, psychologists and electrical engineers have increasingly decided in favour of self-employment. One reason for this was the increasing unemployment rate among graduates from these subject areas. In other subject areas, the increase observed between 1993 and 1995 has again shown a downward trend, for instance among computer scientists, mathematicians, architects and chemists.
Self-employment rates among university graduates according to subject area and regional location (in percentage terms)
Region
| West German States
| East German States
| ||||
Subject Areas | 1991 | 1993 | 1995 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995 |
Architecture | 37.9 | 44.1 | 38.7 | 16.9 | 33.4 | 35.1 |
Engineering | 9.3 | 10.5 | 10.3 | 6.2 | 9.1 | 12.9 |
Natural Sciences | 6.4 | 8.4 | 9.2 | 2.4 | 5.8 | 7.5 |
Business Administration | 13.6 | 14.8 | 16.1 | 6.1 | 11.0 | 9.1 |
Law | 28.7 | 27.7 | 29.2 | 14.6 | 27.9 | 31.6 |
Economics | 13.6 | 10.2 | 16.3 | 4.6 | 10.3 | 12.0 |
Medicine | 43.1 | 43.7 | 45.9 | 28.3 | 44.3 | 43.6 |
Pharmacy | 37.6 | 41.2 | 39.5 | 13.2 | 9.8 | 31.6 |
Psychology | 26.5 | 29.2 | 33.9 | 4.0 | 7.6 | 5.0 |
Arts / Music / Other | 22.4 | 24.8 | 28.0 | 8.1 | 14.7 | 18.5 |
Total | 14.2 | 14.8 | 15.9 | 7.4 | 12.3 | 13.5 |
Source: 70%-ZEW-sample of the „Mikrozensus” of 1991, 1993 and 1995.
Contact
Katrin Voss, E-Mail: voss@zew.de
Date
26.08.1998