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Immigrant Business Owner Activity in the Pandemic and Recovery

Author

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  • Fairlie, Robert

    (University of California, Los Angeles)

Abstract

The paper provides a descriptive analysis of both the early impacts of COVID on business activity among immigrants and the economic recovery over the next few years. The findings indicate that immigrant business owners were disproportionately affected by COVID in the first month of the pandemic when mandated shutdowns through social distancing restrictions were the most severe. Immigrant business activity recovered somewhat inconsistently through the end of 2020 but started a longer-term upward trend in both absolute terms and relative terms over the next few years. By the end of 2024, the number of active immigrant business owners increased to 3.9 million compared with 3.0 million just prior to the start of the pandemic. Growth in the Construction, Transportation, Professional and Business Services, and Financial Activities industry groups fueled total growth in immigrant business activity during the recovery period. The percentage of the labor force owning an active business is 3.5 percentage points higher than U.S. born active business ownership rates, which is larger than the 1.8 percentage point gap before the pandemic started.

Suggested Citation

  • Fairlie, Robert, 2026. "Immigrant Business Owner Activity in the Pandemic and Recovery," IZA Discussion Papers 18635, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18635
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2008. "Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026206281x, December.
    2. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cristina Borra & Chunbei Wang, 2024. "Asian entrepreneurship in the coronavirus era," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-34, March.
    3. Ken Clark & Stephen Drinkwater, 2010. "Patterns of ethnic self-employment in time and space: evidence from British Census microdata," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 323-338, April.
    4. Magnus Lofstrom, 2002. "Labor market assimilation and the self-employment decision of immigrant entrepreneurs," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 83-114.
    5. repec:elg:eechap:22149_7 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. William D. Bradford, 2003. "The Wealth Dynamics of Entrepreneurship for Black and White Families in the U.S," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 49(1), pages 89-116, March.
    7. Robert Fairlie & Frank M. Fossen, 2022. "The early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on business sales," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1853-1864, April.
    8. Robert Fairlie & Justin Marion, 2012. "Affirmative action programs and business ownership among minorities and women," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 319-339, September.
    9. Robert W. Fairlie & Frank M. Fossen, 2020. "Defining Opportunity versus Necessity Entrepreneurship: Two Components of Business Creation," Research in Labor Economics, in: Change at Home, in the Labor Market, and On the Job, volume 48, pages 253-289, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. Aaron K. Chatterji & Kenneth Y. Chay & Robert W. Fairlie, 2014. "The Impact of City Contracting Set-Asides on Black Self-Employment and Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 507-561.
    11. Clark, Kenneth & Drinkwater, Stephen, 2000. "Pushed out or pulled in? Self-employment among ethnic minorities in England and Wales," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 603-628, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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