@article{oai:nagoya.repo.nii.ac.jp:00029889, author = {IMADE, Richard Eke}, issue = {6}, journal = {国際開発研究フォーラム, Forum of International Development Studies}, month = {Mar}, note = {Evidence from developed and more advanced developing countries indicates that voluntary transition from formal wage employment to informal self-employment correlates positively with improvement in workers’ well-being. However, studies examining this assumption in less developed countries remain scarce. This paper uses surveys and in-depth interviews to test whether the self-rated well-being of workers who voluntarily transitioned from Nigeria’s formal wage employment to informal self-employment resonates with this hypothesis. T-tests, principal component, regression, and thematic analyses were used to explore the effects of transition timing and education on workers’ well-being. The findings indicate that voluntary exit from formal wage employment to informal self-employment indeed correlates positively with well-being improvement. However, the well-being return to voluntary transition is mediated by timing and education, with respondents who transitioned before 2010 reporting a statistically significant better improvement in their well-being than those who transitioned after 2010. This implies that the well-being predictive potentials of voluntary transition and education in self-employment vary with the timing and the social, economic and political contexts under which transition occurs. Therefore, these factors must be taken into consideration to avoid overestimating or underestimating the well-being benefits associated with voluntary transition to self-employment.}, pages = {1--23}, title = {Voluntary Exit from Formal Wage Employment and Well-being Perception : Evidence from Self-employed Informal Workers in Nigeria}, volume = {50}, year = {2020} }