This study investigates the association of the rural–urban divide and the time individuals allocate to self-employment. The empirical analysis uses fixed effects modelling on data from the UK Household Longitudinal Survey over the period 2009–2019. The study identifies significant differences in the time men and women allocate to self-employment between rural and urban areas according to their career age group. While men and women tend to allocate more time to selfemployment in their senior career age when residents of urban areas, the time they allocate to self-employment between rural and urban areas in early- and mid-career age differs markedly. More importantly, we find that significant differences exist not only between residents of rural and urban areas, but also between residents of these areas and in-migrants to these areas. We find a significant positive effect on the time senior career age women who migrate to rural areas allocate to self-employment. In contrast, we find that early career men who move from rural to urban areas allocate significantly more time to self-employment. The results reveal the existence of complex dynamics between gender and age, which affect the allocation of time to self-employment between rural and urban areas.

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The notion that self-employed individuals are more satisfied with their jobs than wage-employees has found broad empirical support. Previous research exploring the well-being effects of self-employment typically relies on direct cross-sectional comparisons between wage-employees and self-employed or on longitudinal investigations of transitions in or out of self-employment. In this study, the authors use individuals’ employment status histories in British longitudinal data to examine how accumulated self-employment experience affects job satisfaction, satisfaction with leisure and satisfaction with income. The study finds that those with past work experience only as self-employed report higher levels of job satisfaction than those with experience only as wage-employees. However, individuals with mixed work experience profiles are the most satisfied. This suggests a non-monotonic relationship between self-employment and job satisfaction. Patterns of self-employment experience and other satisfaction domains, such as satisfaction with income or leisure, are more nuanced, differing across gender lines.

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