Becoming self-employed at ages 50+: True entrepreneurship or exclusion from (wage-)employment?

Job satisfaction of shifters into self-employment informs us about their risk of social exclusion. Those who shift into self-employment are the more motivated wage-employed seeking higher job satisfaction. Social exclusion is not a likely outcome to those who shift into self-employment. Institutional features, such as the differential inclusion of selfemployed and wage-employed into unemployment insurances and the level of employment protection, also explain these shifts.