Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/253651 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
DIW Discussion Papers No. 2002
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people's mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these differences. In addition, we find larger mental health responses among self-employed women who were directly affected by government-imposed restrictions and bore an increased childcare burden due to school and daycare closures. We also find that self-employed individuals who are more resilient coped better with the crisis.
Subjects: 
self-employment
COVID-19
mental health
gender
representative longitudinal survey data
PHQ-4 score
resilience
JEL: 
L26
D31
I14
I18
J16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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