(Thoresen and Alstadsæter, 2008). Descriptions in Figure 1 accord with this; we see a decrease in the
number of self-employed, a stable number of closely held firms and a substantial increase in the
number of widely held firms.
Figure 1. Number of wage earners and self-employed 1993-2003, number of widely held and
closely held firms 1995-2005
Number of persons in 1,000
2 500
2 000
1 500
Wage earners
Self-employed
1 000
500
0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Number of firms
120 000 »
100 000
80 000 ^^^^≡Closely held firms
≠ - - Widely held firms
60 000
40 000
20 000
0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Sources: Labour force survey, Income statistics for limited companies
The data on which this study is mainly based are from the Income Statistics on Persons and
Families, see Statistics Norway (2006a). These statistics hold register-based information on the whole
population, based primarily on income tax returns filed with the Directorate of Taxes' Register of
Personal Tax-Payers. Other sources provide many of the demographic variables. Thus, as these data