4), corroborating previous findings by the World Bank (2009). Even when they operate in the same sectors, female businesses generally earn less than male businesses, as seen in the trade sector.

**<u>Table 3: Enterprise characteristics, by sex of owner</u>**

||**Period 1 (2**<br>|**018/2019)**<br>||**Period 2 (20**<br>|**21/2022)**<br>||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Male-<br>owned|Female-<br>owned|P-values|Male-<br>owned|Female-<br>owned|P-values|
|Microenterprise (%)|**96.0**|**98.8**|0.05|97.1|98.0|0.54|
|Own account (%)|**81.6**|**94.0**|0.00|**83.4**|**93.3**|0.00|
|Registered (%)|**28.3**|**12.0**|0.00|**24.4**|**7.6**|0.00|
|Urban (%)|56.8|52.1|0.33|**51.3**|**40.0**|0.04|
|**Annual sales**|||||||
|Median annual sales ('000 birr)|**18.0**|**6.0**||**28.8**|**8.0**||
|Average annual sales ('000 birr)|**40.6**<br>(63.8)|**17.8**<br>(37.9)|0.00|**59.4**<br>(82.5)|**26.7**<br>(56.3)|0.00|
|% with sales <=50,000 birr|**77.0**|**92.3**|0.00|**63.4**|**88.6**|0.00|
|**Taxes**|||||||
|Paid market tax or municipality fees (%)|**8.2**|**2.6**|0.01|**11.0**|**1.8**|0.00|
|Paid tax on business income (%)|**15.6**|**7.7**|0.00|**18.4**|**7.2**|0.00|
|Average tax paid on business income (birr,|||||||
|self-reported)|**397.2**<br>(1630.5)|**132.4**<br>(685.4)|0.00|**472.6**<br>(1532.5)|**148.2**<br>(760.4)|0.00|
|**Number of enterprises**|**778**|**745**||**711**|**663**||
|% of enterprises in presumptive tax net|**44.1**|**29.9**|0.01|**61.0**|**16.8**|0.00|
|Average presumptive tax (birr, imputed)|**641.9**<br>(1825.3)|**224.7**<br>(724.7)|0.00|**1222.0**<br>(472.6)|**262.5**<br>(148.2)|0.00|
|% in sectors with tax-free threshold|68.6|74.6|0.26|**63.2**|**91.9**|0.00|
|**Number of enterprises**|**478**|**458**||**498**|**449**||

Source: Authors’ calculations using ESS 2018/2019 (period 1) and ESS2021/2022 (period 2). Notes: Numbers in parentheses indicate the standard deviation. Significant differences at p _<_ 0.05 are shown in bold. Firms liable for the presumptive tax are defined as those that are estimated to be in the presumptive tax net based on the government’s tax code. Imputed presumptive taxes are calculated using the estimated annual turnover, business activity, and the presumptive tax schedule in the Council of Ministers Regulation No. 410/2017. There are multiple tax rates within each sector, which requires details on business activity type. Some activities, particularly in the retail and wholesale sector, lack sufficient detail to impute presumptive tax, resulting in some enterprises with missing values.

**Table 4: Enterprise characteristics, by sex of owner and sector**

|||||||**Number of**<br>|**enterpris**<br>|**es**<br>|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Perio**|**d 1**|**Perio**|**d 2**|**Peri**|**od 1**|**P**|**eriod 2**|
||Male-owned|Female-<br>owned|Male-owned|Female-<br>owned|Male-<br>owned|Female-<br>owned|Male-<br>owned|Female-<br>owned|
|**Median annual sales ('000 birr) by**|**sector**||||||||
|Manufacturing beverages|na|3.2|na|6.0||113||94|
|Food and beverage services|na|9.6|na|40.0||112||61|
|Retail trade|**19.6**|**9.6**|**36.0**|**10.0**|355|392|305|392|
|Transit services|48.0|na|42.0|na|81||108||
|**Average annual sales ('000 birr) b**|**y sector**||||||||
|Manufacturing beverages|na|7.5|na|12.2||113||94|

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