지난 8년 동안(2002~2010년) 진행된 소위 ‘자영업 구조조정’으로 자영업자가 105만 명 줄어들었지만 자영업 비중은 28.8%로 OECD회원국과 비교할 때 여전히 높은 수준이다. 자영업은 미취업에 대한 대안과 빈곤으로부터의 탈출 기제로서의 역할을 수행하지만 낮은 취업가능성, 즉 저조한 인적자본을 드러내는 낙인효과도 갖는다. 한국노동패널 조사 제1~11차년도 자료와 직업력 자료에 따르면, 생애노동 초기(20대) 자영업 경험자의 이후 자영업 선택 비중이 높고. 미경험자에서는 연령이 높아질수록 상승하며, 30~55세에 걸쳐 자영업소득이 임금소득보다 높다. 초기 자영업 경험 남성의 근로소득은 40대 중후반까지 미경험 남성과 유사하지만 그 이후 더 낮은 반면, 여성에서는 50대 초반까지 경험자에서 높게 나타난다. 본 연구는 임의확률모형과 통합회귀모형을 이용하여 생애노동 초기의 자영업 경험이 생애근로소득에 미치는 장기효과를 분석한다. 모형의 추정 결과, 초기 자영업 경험은 남성의 생애근로소득에 부정적 효과를 미치는 반면, 여성의 40대 중반까지의 근로소득에는 긍정적 효과를, 그 이후 근로소득에는 부정적 효과를 미치는 것으로 나타난다. 또한 초기 자영업 경험은 남성의 임금소득에 통계적으로 유의하게 부정적 효과를 가지는 한편, 여성의 자영업소득에는 통계적 유의수준이 다소 저조하지만, 긍정적 효과를 미치는 것으로 나타난다. 이로부터 생애노동초기에 임금근로 일자리를 얻지 못한 청년이 미취업이나 무급가족종사보다는 자영업을 선택하는 것이 바람직하나 이를 통한 자영업 특유 인적자본(self-employment-specific human capital) 축적은 임금근로 특유 인적자본 축적 기회의 상실을 대가로 이루어진다는 결론을 얻을 수 있다. 단순한 자영업 창업지원에서 더 나아가 자영업의 지속을 목표로 하는 실질적 정책지원이 필요하다.
Compared with other OECD countries, the share of the self-employed out of workers is still high even its continuous decrease over the last decade. Self-employment plays a role of an alternative to the wages and salaried work or a last resort for not being poverty. Self-employment often indicates lower employability/human capital. By applying the random effect model to the data from the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study, this study analyzes the effect of being self-employed in the early years of work life(the control group) on earnings profile. The estimates shows that, for men, earnings of the control group are lower than that of the base group (those who worked but never self-employed in their 20s) over ages of 30~55 while, for women, the control group's are higher than the base group's before mid-40s but the opposite is true after that. Another estimates imply that the experience of self-employment has a significantly negative effect on earnings of wages and salaried men while a positive effect for self-employed women at the slightly low significance level, but not any effect for the others. It can be concluded that self-employment during early years is a good alternative to being employed and better than no work and that the specific human capital is accumulated through self-employment at the cost of that for wages and salaried work. More specific policy supports are required for self-employment to be a better alternative at the later work life.
Compared with other OECD countries, the share of the self-employed out of workers is still high even its continuous decrease over the last decade. Self-employment plays a role of an alternative to the wages and salaried work or a last resort for not being poverty. Self-employment often indicates lower employability/human capital. By applying the random effect model to the data from the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study, this study analyzes the effect of being self-employed in the early years of work life(the control group) on earnings profile. The estimates shows that, for men, earnings of the control group are lower than that of the base group (those who worked but never self-employed in their 20s) over ages of 30~55 while, for women, the control group's are higher than the base group's before mid-40s but the opposite is true after that. Another estimates imply that the experience of self-employment has a significantly negative effect on earnings of wages and salaried men while a positive effect for self-employed women at the slightly low significance level, but not any effect for the others. It can be concluded that self-employment during early years is a good alternative to being employed and better than no work and that the specific human capital is accumulated through self-employment at the cost of that for wages and salaried work. More specific policy supports are required for self-employment to be a better alternative at the later work life.
