This paper studies the impact of individual and institutional characteristics on the low-wage mobility of selfemployed and employees in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK). For this analysis, data from the SOEP (2000-2009) and BHPS (2000-2008) as well as harmonised data coming from the CNEF-project are used. It can be shown that being a men, having a higher education and working for a larger firm leads to a higher probability of leaving the low-wage sector. Whereas changing the job has a negative impact on the leaving the low-wage sector, the effect in Germany is positive. It cannot be shown that the low-income mobility in general is higher in the UK than in Germany and that gender-gap regarding the low-wage mobility is higher for self-employed than for employees.