随着低收入国家的工业化，工人在非正式的自雇和低技能制造业之间进行选择。工人的权衡如何，这种职业选择的长期影响是什么？自雇是动荡和冒险的，但具有自主性和灵活性。工业公司因工资和工作条件不佳而受到批评，但它们可以提供其他优势。我们与五家埃塞俄比亚工业公司合作，将入门级申请人随机化为三个治疗组之一：工业工作机会；对照组；或300美元的“企业家”计划以及商业培训。我们遵循了一年多的样本。工业工作提供的时间比对照组的非正式机会更多的时间，但由于较低的工资，对收入的影响很小。大多数申请人迅速辞职，发现工业工作不愉快和冒险。 Indeed, serious health problems rose one percentage point for every month of industrial work. Applicants seem to understand the risks, but took the industrial work temporarily while searching for better work. Meanwhile, the entrepreneurship program stimulated self-employment, raised earnings by 33%, provided steady work hours, and halved the likelihood of taking an industrial job in future. Overall, when the barriers to self-employment were relieved, applicants appear to have preferred entrepreneurial to industrial labor.