Trends in Self-Employment among White and Black Men during the Twentieth Century

Abstract

We examine trends in self-employment among white and black men from 1910 to 1990 using Census and CPS microdata. Self-employment rates fell over most of the century and then started to rise after 1970. For white men, we find that the decline was due to declining rates within industries, but was counterbalanced somewhat by a shift in employment towards high selfemployment industries. Recently, the increase in self-employment was caused by an end to the within industry decline and the continuing shift in employment towards high self-employment industries. We find that the trends in self-employment average returns do not easily explain the