Using representative linked employer-employee data for Germany, this paper analyzes short- and long-run differences in labor market performance of workers joining start-ups instead of incumbent firms. Applying entropy balancing and following individuals over ten years, we find huge and long-lasting drawbacks from entering a start-up in terms of wages, yearly income, and (un)employment. These disadvantages hold for all groups of workers and types of start-ups analyzed. Although our analysis of different subsequent career paths highlights important heterogeneities, it does not reveal any strategy through which workers joining start-ups can catch up with the income of similar workers entering incumbent firms.

本文使用德国具有代表性的雇主-雇员相关数据，分析了加入初创企业而非现有企业的工人在劳动力市场表现方面的短期和长期差异。应用熵平衡和跟踪个人超过十年，我们发现进入初创公司在工资、年收入和（失业）就业方面存在巨大而持久的缺点。这些缺点适用于所有分析的工人群体和初创企业类型。尽管我们对不同的后续职业道路的分析突出了重要的异质性，但它并没有揭示加入初创企业的工人可以通过何种策略赶上进入现有企业的类似工人的收入。