本文主要在探討我國景氣階段對於自營作業者就業的影響，並比較「繁榮拉力」與「失業推力」觀點對於成為自營作業者解釋力的差異。經使用1982-1986年、1988-1992年、1996-2000年計15年「人力運用調查」為資料，其中以1982-1986及1996-2000年為典型的失業潮期間，並以1988-1992年景氣繁榮期間為參考組加以比較分析。研究後發現：(1)以總體勞勤力的分析而言，「失業推力」的觀點較足以就明我國的自營作業現象，即在失業潮期間受雇者傾向因避免失業而不得不轉換身分為自營作業者；(2)此外依據勞動市場區隔理論將樣本區分為主要與次要勞動市場後，則發現「失業推力」的觀點雖仍足以解釋次要勞動市場中的自營作業現象，但「繁榮拉力」的觀點則更適合說明主要勞動市場中成為自營作業者的驅力，即主要勞動市場中的受雇者在景氣繁榮時期較容易受吸引成為新與專業的自營作業者；(3)綜合而言，就業者為已婚、年齡在45歲以上者、教育程度愈低者、工作區位較偏遠者，這些勞動市場中的弱勢者成為自營作業者的概率也相對較高。

The major purpose of this study is to test whether the perspectives of recession-push or prosperity-pull can explain the emergence of the self-employed in Taiwanese labor markets. Using the data of 1982-1986, 1988-1992, and 1996-2000 Labor Forces Utilization Surveys, this study found that: (1) In general, the perspective of recession-push rather than prosperity-pull is more appropriate to explain the emergence of the self-employed in Taiwan. Given some characteristics controlled, the probability of becoming the self-employed is significantly higher in the recession stage than in the prosperous stage. (2) Once the sample was divided into primary versus secondary labor markets, the perspective of recession-push is still valid to explain the emergence of the self-employed in the secondary labor market. However, the perspective of prosperity-pull is more appropriate to explain the emergence of the self-employed in the primary labor market. (3) Finally, those disadvantageous populations, such as the married, the older, the less-educated, and rural workers, tend to become the self-employed. The policy implications of the above findings were also discussed in the paper.