Entrepreneurship among immigrants in Switzerland

Author(s) : Etienne Piguet

Source : http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/open-for-business/entrepreneurship-among-immigrants-in-switzerland_9789264095830-7-en

Abstract:

This chapter describes and analyses entrepreneurship among the immigrant population in Switzerland, on the basis of self-employment data. The first section presents the self-employment situation as reflected in the most recent Swiss Labour Force Survey conducted by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. These data are then used, together with data from the last population census conducted in 2000, to address the question of jobs created by self-employed workers of foreign origin. The same data are used in the second part of the article to test a series of explanatory hypotheses current in the international literature on self-employment and migration.  This research has two original features that distinguish it from the existing literature on self-employment and migration. First, it offers a systematic comparison of the situation of persons of immigrant background vis-à-vis the native-born; second, it is not limited to examining independent workers in terms of their legal nationality but also takes into account their origin and possible naturalisation.