Self-Employment as an Indicator of Segmented Assimilation among Six Ethnic Minority Groups

Investigations of socioeconomic assimilation among immigrant and ethnic minority groups are often limited to analyses of labor market outcomes only. This study investigates the relationship between self-employment, as one overlooked indicator of socioeconomic integration, and segmented assimilation. Using 1980, 1990, and 2000 census data this research examines how length of residence in the US and nativity affect ethnic minority group differences in: 1) self-employment trends as a percentage of all men and women; 2) changes in these percentages from 1980 to 2000; and, 3) the odds of being self-employed compared with US-born non-Hispanic Whites. Drawing from segmented assimilation theory, findings demonstrate a mainstream assimilation trajectory as measured by self-employment participation for most ethnic minority groups, although there is some evidence that Filipino men may follow a downward assimilation trajectory. The delayed assimilation hypothesis associated with the “ethnic entrepreneurship” paradigm is not supported. Findings also reveal differences in self-employment participation by gender; however, women’s segmented assimilation trajectories are not markedly different from that of men with one exception: foreign-born Filipinas demonstrate mainstream assimilation. Evidence presented in this study encourages the use of self-employment as one aspect of socioeconomic assimilation.