Stephen Drinkwater

Pushed out or pulled in? Self-employment among ethnic minorities in England and Wales

Abstract High rates of self-employment among ethnic minorities in England and Wales are investigated using a framework in which the self-employment decision is influenced by ethnic-specific attributes as well as sectoral earnings differentials. As expected, differences in an individuals predicted earnings in paid and self-employment are strongly correlated with self-employment decisions. Individuals with low English fluency, and recent immigrants, are less likely than other members of ethnic minorities to be self-employed. Perhaps surprisingly, this is also true of individuals living in “enclaves” — areas with a high percentage of their own ethnic group. The relatively deprived nature of such areas of England and Wales may explain this.

Enclaves, neighbourhood effects and employment outcomes: Ethnic minorities in England and Wales

Abstract. Ethnic minorities in England and Wales are spatially concentrated in relatively-deprived urban areas. Both geographic clustering and the economic characteristics of ethnically-concentrated neighbourhoods can impact upon the opportunities and constraints facing residents of such areas. This paper explores the relationship between the existence of enclaves and the employment prospects of ethnic minorities in England and Wales. It is shown that there is considerable spatial variation in employment outcomes. There is a lower incidence of self-employment in more ethnically-concentrated urban areas, which contradicts the view of ethnic entrepreneurship as an enclave phenomenon. Unemployment rates are also higher for minorities living in more concentrated areas. Enclaves in England and Wales do not appear to offer many economic benefits to minority individuals.

Recent trends in minority ethnic entrepreneurship in Britain

This article examines trends in entrepreneurship among minority ethnic groups in Britain. It begins with an analysis of how self-employment rates for different ethnic groups have evolved since the early 1990s. We find that rates of self-employment have fallen for Indians and the Chinese and argue that this is due to increased opportunities in paid employment, partly brought about by demographic change. However, entrepreneurs from these groups still work the longest hours. In contrast, self-employment rates have risen for Black Caribbean males in recent years and remain high for Pakistani males. We also document how the proportion of the self-employed with employees has varied over time and discuss trends in the extent to which the self-employment of different ethnic groups is concentrated within particular sectors.

The Immigration Surplus Revisited In A General Equilibrium Model With Endogenous Growth

We revisit the work of Borjas (1995) which has provided an influential positive theory of immigration policy. An important feature of his framework is the focus on the skill-composition of immigrants and we retain this feature in our paper. Our contribution to this literature is to extend his analysis in a number of directions. First, we study the immigration surplus in the context of a general equilibrium model in which capital is endogenous and the welfare of the indigenous population is set out explicitly. Second, we introduce several sectors into the model so that changing the skill composition leads to changes in sector shares. Third, related to the second development, we introduce and R&D sector and develop a model with long-term endogenous growth. The result is that growth effects on the Immigration Surplus come to dominate the purely static effects in the original analysis of Borjas, but they are not sufficient to eliminate the emergence of losers among the section of natives competing with immigrants in the labour market.

Dynamics and Diversity: Ethnic Employment Differences in England and Wales, 1991-2001

This paper uses microdata from the 1991 and 2001 Population Censuses to examine differences in the employment experiences of ethnic minorities living in England and Wales. It focuses on two main issues, firstly the extent to which the employment position of the main ethnic minority groups changed between the two Census dates and secondly, a detailed examination of employment amongst ethnic groups in 2001. In relative terms, it is found that there was an improvement in the employment rates of most ethnic minority groups over the period, some of which could be explained by enhanced levels of observable characteristics. However, the employment gap between Whites and certain ethnic minority groups remains extremely large. Religion, local deprivation and educational qualifications are important influences on employment for many of these groups.

AN INVESTIGATION OF HOUSEHOLD REMITTANCE BEHAVIOUR: EVIDENCE FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM*

Overseas remittances are a vital source of income for many developing economies. In this paper we empirically model the remittance behaviour of a diverse set of ethnic minority households in England and Wales using survey data. Our results indicate that the probability of remitting is higher for richer households and for those containing more immigrants. Measures of social distance also appear to influence the sending of remittances. Significant ethnic differences in the incidence of remitting and the timing of payments remain after controlling for these and other factors. Copyright

Ethnicity and self-employment earnings in Britain 1973-95

Using data from the General Household Survey 1973-95, it is shown that there were substantial differences between the earnings of whites and nonwhites in the self-employment sector of the British labour market over the period. Fitting a model of earnings determination which takes account of sample selectivity allows these differences to be decomposed into characteristics and coefficients effects. It turns out that both are important. Further decomposition reveals a crucial role for differences in the amount of schooling received by whites and nonwhites and in the returns to age, gender, marital status and qualifications.

Welfare Participation by Immigrants in the UK

Welfare participation is an important indicator of how successfully immigrants perform in the host country. This paper examines this issue for the UK, which has experienced a large growth in its immigrant flows and population levels in recent years, especially following EU enlargement in 2004. The analysis focuses in particular on the types of benefits that immigrants tend to claim as well as examining differences by area of origin. It also examines the factors that determine social benefit claims, including an investigation of the impact of education, ethnicity and years since migration. Social welfare claims vary considerably by immigrant group as well as by the type of benefit claimed in the UK. There is also some variation by gender within the migrant groups.

Seeders, leechers and social norms: Evidence from the market for illicit digital downloading

The sharing of files via peer-to-peer (P2P) and related networks has become a hugely contentious issue in recent years, with the music industry citing this practice as a significant threat to intellectual property rights and the long term financial viability of its activities. Using Finnish data, this study examines the apparent determinants and factors associated with this important and little documented activity. Results indicate that file sharers behave in a way which is consistent with expectations drawn from economic theory but differs depending upon the stated extent of participation.

Immigrant self-employment adjustment: Ethnic groups in the UK

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine two aspects of the self-employment adjustment of immigrant groups in the UK. First, how the probability of self-employment for males changes with time since migration relative to the native population and second, how the probability of self-employment for males differs between immigrants and the UK-born within ethnic groups. Design/methodology/approach – Limited dependent variable regression models are estimated using data from the UK Labour Force Survey collected between 2001 and 2005. The results are presented graphically to make clear the differences between ethnic groups. Findings – The predicted self-employment probability of “Asian” immigrants increases faster than that of natives over the lifecycle while that of “Black” groups declines. Furthermore, the observed lower propensity of UK-born members of certain ethnic groups to be in self-employment is largely explained by differences in human capital. Practical implications – High rates of self-employment amongst some ethnic groups in the UK are unlikely to be a transitory phenomenon. Originality/value – While previous work on the UK has examined patterns of self-employment between groups and over time, the paper looks for the first time at how adjustment within groups takes place over the life cycle and across nativity status.