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Entrepreneurial Ventures and Wage Differentials Between Germans and Immigrants

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Author Info
Constant, Amelie () (University of Pennsylvania and IZA Bonn)
Shachmurove, Yochanan (City University of New York and University of Pennsylvania)

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the entrepreneurial undertaking of immigrants and natives in Germany. We first study factors that affect the sorting of individuals into self-employment and then we investigate whether self-employment has a differential effect on the wages of individual workers and can lead them to economic success. We employ recent data from the German Socioeconomic Panel that allow us to identify and compare four distinct groups: West Germans, East Germans, guestworkers, and ethnic Germans. We find that the probability of self-employment increases significantly with age for all groups. For immigrants, the years-since-migration exhibits a U-shape. During the first years since migration the likelihood of self-employment decreases over time. However, when immigrants have accumulated more years of residence in Germany, the likelihood is increasing again. This suggests that once immigrants have overcome the initial adjustment shock, self-employment is a means to take advantage of the opportunities of the host country and achieve a higher socio-economic standing. Among immigrants, guestworkers are twice as likely to choose selfemployment as ethnic Germans. Further, we find that self-employment is a lucrative choice only for Germans who are in the upper end of the income distribution. “Rich” self-employed Germans enjoy a wage premium compared to their salaried counterparts. However, immigrants are able to traverse the socioeconomic gap through self-employment, irrespective of the part of the distribution they are at. Self-employed immigrants earn 22% more than the salaried immigrants.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 879.

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Length: 38 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2003
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp879

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Related research
Keywords: entrepreneurship; self-employment; occupational choice; immigrants; wage differentials;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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References listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Constant, Amelie F., 2008. "Businesswomen in Germany and Their Performance by Ethnicity: It Pays to Be Self-Employed," IZA Discussion Papers 3644, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Yochanan Shachmurove, 2007. "Geography and Industry Meets Venture Capital," PIER Working Paper Archive 07-015, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
  3. Constant, Amelie, 2004. "Immigrant versus Native Businesswomen: Proclivity and Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 1234, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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