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Foreign-Born Self-Employed in the United States
By Jeanne Batalova and David Dixon
Migration Policy Institute
April 2005
This month's Spotlight examines social and economic characteristics of
the foreign-born population engaged in self-employment in the United
States. Self-employment of immigrants may shed light on economic
mobility and their ability to access the mainstream labor market.
Click on the bullet points below for more
information:
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Definition of Self-Employed
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Self-employed refers to persons who reported to be self-employed in their own
incorporated or not incorporated business, professional practice, or farm.
However, for the purposes of this article, "self-employed" includes individuals between ages 18 and 64 who
were in the civilian labor force and reported no farm self-employment income or
farm-related occupations.
The data used come from the 1 percent 1970-2000 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) and
the Census 2000 5 percent Public-Use Microdata Sample (PUMS).
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About one in every 10 foreign born was self-employed.
According to Census 2000, approximately 1.4 million (10.4 percent) foreign
born were in self-employment. At the same time, the
foreign born accounted for about 13.5 percent of all self-employed workers
in the United States in 2000.
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The number and proportion of foreign born in self-employment increased
between 1970 and 2000.
According to the US Census, the number of
self-employed foreign born increased 4.6 times (from 314,428 to 1,429,345)
between 1970 and 2000 (see Figure 1). During
the same period, the number of native-born workers who were self-employed doubled.
Of the total foreign born in the labor force, 8.8 percent were self-employed
in 1970 compared with 10.4 percent in 2000. The percent of native-born self-employed
workers increased from 7.2 percent in 1970 to 9.4 percent in 2000.
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Among the foreign born, immigrants from Greece, Syria, Korea, and Israel had the highest rates of self-employment.
Among the foreign born by country of birth,
those with the highest self-employment rates in 2000 were from Greece (26.9
percent), Syria (26.2 percent), Korea (25.4 percent), and Israel (25.2 percent).
Those born in Jordan (23.3 percent), Paraguay (23.3 percent), Iran (22.6
percent), Lebanon (22.1 percent), Hungary (19.5 percent), and Iraq (19.0
percent) rounded out the top 10 groups with the highest rates of self-employment.
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Latinos, Asians, and whites each constitute about 30 percent of total
foreign born in self-employment.
According to Census 2000, of total foreign born engaged in self-employment,
34 percent (486,489) were Latinos, 31.4 percent (448,904) were non-Latino whites,
and 27.7 percent (395,641) were non-Latino Asians (see Table 1). In contrast,
the overwhelming majority of native-born self-employed (90 percent or 8,226,152)
were non-Latino whites.
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Twenty percent of self-employed foreign born worked in just five out of a possible 979 occupations.
According to Census 2000, the top five occupations reported by the foreign
born engaged in self-employment are managers and supervisors of retail sales
workers (6.4 percent), maids and housekeeping cleaners (5 percent), child care
workers (3.7 percent), food service managers (3.6 percent), and physicians
and surgeons (3.3 percent).
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Table 1. Self-Employment Rates by Nativity,
Gender and Arrival Cohort, 1970-2000
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| |
Foreign born |
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Native born |
| |
Total |
Men |
Women |
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Total |
Men |
Women |
| Number of all workers |
13,797,445 |
8,188,377 |
5,609,068 |
|
97,023,027 |
51,695,603 |
45,327,424 |
| Number of self-employed |
1,429,345 |
932,326 |
497,019 |
|
9,142,372 |
6,023,508 |
3,118,864 |
| Percent of total workers |
10.4 |
11.4 |
8.9 |
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9.4 |
11.7 |
6.9 |
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| Demographic and social characteristics of self-employed |
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| Race and ethnicity |
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| Percent non-Latino whites |
31.4 |
32.3 |
29.7 |
|
90.0 |
90.8 |
88.4 |
| Percent non-Latino blacks |
4.7 |
4.9 |
4.3 |
|
4.7 |
4.1 |
5.9 |
| Percent non-Latino Asians |
27.7 |
26.8 |
29.4 |
|
0.7 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
| Percent non-Latino other race |
2.2 |
2.3 |
2.1 |
|
1.4 |
1.3 |
1.4 |
| Percent Latino |
34.0 |
33.8 |
34.6 |
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3.2 |
3.1 |
3.4 |
| Age (average in years) |
43.5 |
43.4 |
43.6 |
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44.4 |
44.7 |
43.7 |
| Percent men |
65.2 |
-- |
-- |
|
65.9 |
-- |
-- |
| Percent married |
75.8 |
79.0 |
69.9 |
|
72.9 |
74.1 |
70.6 |
| Educational attainment |
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| Percent with no high school diploma |
28.0 |
28.2 |
27.6 |
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9.5 |
10.6 |
7.4 |
| Percent high school graduates |
20.4 |
18.9 |
23.2 |
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26.8 |
26.9 |
26.6 |
| Percent with some college/bachelor's degree |
37.2 |
37.1 |
37.4 |
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49.4 |
47.4 |
53.2 |
| Percent with graduate degree |
14.4 |
15.8 |
11.8 |
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14.4 |
15.2 |
12.8 |
| Economic characteristics |
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| Hours worked in 1999 |
44.4 |
46.9 |
39.6 |
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43.6 |
46.9 |
37.4 |
| Weeks worked in 1999 |
46.6 |
47.1 |
45.6 |
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47.6 |
48.8 |
46.1 |
| Self-employment income in 1999 ($) |
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| Average |
22,427 |
25,536 |
16,595 |
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25,083 |
29,538 |
16,477 |
| Median |
10,000 |
10,000 |
8,000 |
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10,000 |
12,000 |
7,000 |
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The occupations of the foreign-born self-employed varied between men
and women.
Nearly 30 percent of foreign-born, self-employed women worked in three occupations:
maids and housekeepers, child care workers, and supervisors and managers of
retail sales workers. About 16 percent of self-employed, foreign-born men worked
in a different set of three occupations: supervisors and managers of retail
sales workers, grounds maintenance workers, and physicians and surgeons.
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About 30 percent of all foreign born in self-employment reported having
a bachelor's or higher degree.
Among foreign born engaged in self-employment in 2000, 30.4 percent reported
having a college-level or higher education while 28 percent did not have a high
school degree. Among native-born self-employed, 33.2 percent reported having
a college-level or above education while only 9.5 percent did not have
a high school diploma.
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On average, self-employed foreign born earn less than their native-born counterparts.
In 2000, the average annual net income from self-employment activities among
the foreign born was $22,427, which was 10.6 percent lower than the average
net income ($25,083) of the native born.
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The Miami metropolitan area had the highest rate of self-employment
among the foreign born.
The self-employment rates vary considerably
among the foreign born living in the four metropolitan areas with the largest
foreign-born populations (see Table 2). Of these four areas, Miami, Florida,
had the highest rate of self-employment among the foreign born (13.3 percent),
followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach, California (12.3 percent), then by New
York, New York (10 percent), and Chicago, Illinois (8.9 percent).
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Table 2:
Top Five Self-Employed Foreign-Born Groups by Country of
Birth in Selected Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas
(PMSAs): 2000
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| PMSA |
Total civilian labor force, ages 18 to 64 |
Percent self-employed |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach |
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| Total |
3,295,484 |
12.3 |
| Native |
1,842,126 |
11.9 |
| Foreign born |
1,453,358 |
12.8 |
| Syria |
3,170 |
38.8 |
| Israel |
8,137 |
32 |
| Korea |
53,095 |
30.6 |
| Lebanon |
8,744 |
27.8 |
| Iran |
37,701 |
26.9 |
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| New York |
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| Total |
3,304,915 |
9.5 |
| Native |
1,960,393 |
9.2 |
| Foreign born |
1,344,522 |
10 |
| Israel |
10,707 |
24.1 |
| Korea |
31,279 |
24.1 |
| Greece |
13,168 |
23.9 |
| Brazil |
8,898 |
19.8 |
| Pakistan |
14,597 |
17.3 |
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| Chicago |
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| Total |
3,363,471 |
8.3 |
| Native |
2,681,092 |
8.2 |
| Foreign born |
682,379 |
8.9 |
| Korea |
14,450 |
23.4 |
| Greece |
8,872 |
22.3 |
| Italy |
11,166 |
16.8 |
| Poland |
68,858 |
15.5 |
| Germany |
12,775 |
13.2 |
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| Miami |
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| Total |
798,150 |
12.6 |
| Native |
333,874 |
11.6 |
| Foreign born |
464,276 |
13.3 |
| Brazil |
5,356 |
23.6 |
| Argentina |
7,598 |
18.2 |
| Columbia |
33,679 |
15.2 |
| Cuba |
201,233 |
14.4 |
| Peru |
11,026 |
14.1 |
Source: US Census Bureau, Census 2000 5 Percent Public Use
Microdata Sample
Note: A Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) is an area defined by
the Office of Management and Budget as a Federal statistical standard, comprised
of one or more counties (county subdivisions in New England), within a metropolitan
area, having a population of 1,000,000 or more. When PMSAs are established,
the larger area of which they are component parts is designated a Consolidated
Metropolitan Statistical Area. |
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If you have questions or comments about this article, contact us at
source@migrationpolicy.org
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Copyright @
2002-2013 Migration Policy Institute.
All rights reserved.
Migration Information Source, ISSN 1946-4037
MPI · 1400 16th St. NW, Suite 300 · Washington, DC 20036
ph: (001) 202-266-1940 · fax: (001) 202-266-1900
source@migrationpolicy.org
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