The Value of Self-Employment to Ethnic Minorities

Abstract

It is sometimes argued that ethnic minorities have a cultural predisposition towards self-employment. However, this is generally not the preferred option for minority groups. We argue that ethnic minorities face a double risk in deciding between employment and self-employment. While their chances in employment leave them exposed to greater risk than the majority group, self-employment, which is inherently risky for all workers, adds to their general risk environment. We demonstrate a negative underpinning to their self-employed activity, showing that minority groups in the UK earn less in self-employment relative to the white British majority, work longer hours, and have lower job satisfaction. They also leave self-employment sooner to take up a job as an employee and use resources such as higher education to stand a better chance in employment.

Factors linked to accessing COVID‐19 recommendations among working migrants

“…Consistent with our findings, employment status is a focal point where many demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, age, marital status, finances, and year of migration) indicating societal advantage and disadvantage (i.e., intersectionality) overlap (Ressia et al, 2017;Tapia & Alberti, 2018). Societal advantage is more common among men (McCall, 2005), individuals in the mid-age range (Choroszewicz, 2019), those with higher socioeconomic status (Walby et al, 2012), and nonmigrants (Brynin et al, 2019;Tapia & Alberti, 2018). These same layers of societal disadvantage were found by other researchers focusing on migrants (Siebers & van Gastel, 2015).…”

“…Many migrants become self-employed when they are unable to find full-time employment (Tapia & Alberti, 2018). Self-employment for migrants results in more hours of work, less stability, and lower income (Brynin et al, 2019). Additionally, self-employment, compared to full-or part-time employment is more likely to lead to unemployment (Munoz-Comet & Steinmetz, 2020).…”

Ethnic Penalties and Hiring Discrimination: Comparing Results from Observational Studies with Field Experiments in the UK

“…One option to do this is through a higher reliance on self-employment (Light, 2005; Modood and Khattab, 2016). A recent study does indicate that self-employment is more often due to economic necessity for ethnic minorities than for white British (Brynin et al, 2019). Based on the UKLFS sample (Tables 1a and 1b) self-employment is highest among Pakistani/Bangladeshi, Eastern European and North African and Middle Eastern minorities; and in 2007–2010 also for Chinese and to some extent Indian minorities.…”

My mother-in-law does not like it: resources, social norms, and entrepreneurial intentions of women in an emerging economy

“…Such barriers include gender-based role expectations (Brush et al, 2009, Bullough et al, 2021. Furthermore, women from ethnic minority communities in developed countries may continue to face both structural as well as normative barriers although they are living there for a long time (Audretsch et al, 2017;Brynin et al, 2019;Carter et al, 2015)-an effect that can be attributed to the persistence and sticky nature of these barriers. Such women are more likely to be pushed into entrepreneurship with low returns (Baycan-Levent & Nijkamp, 2011).…”

“…The connection between household income and entrepreneurship has been long established (Caputo & Dolinsky, 1998;Millán et al, 2012;Nikolaev & Wood, 2018;Smith, 2005). Extent studies suggest that individual household income can make a difference in their decision to be involved in entrepreneurship based on their ethnicity (Brynin et al, 2019;Smith, 2005). In a conservative developing country context, household income can be a significant determinant in shaping the entrepreneurial intentions of women.…”