IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/okl/wpaper/1706.html

Self-Employment Differentials among Foreign-Born STEM and Non-STEM Workers

Author

Listed:
  • Zhengyu Cai

    (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)

  • John V. Winters

    (Oklahoma State University)

Abstract

This paper uses the American Community Survey to examine the previously overlooked fact that foreign STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduates have much lower self-employment rates than their non-STEM counterparts, with an unconditional difference of 3.3 percentage points. We find empirical support for differing earnings opportunities as a partial explanation for this self-employment gap. High wages in STEM paid-employment combined with reduced earnings in self-employment make self-employment less desirable for STEM graduates. High self-employment rates among other foreign-born workers partially reflect weak paid-employment opportunities. Public policy should encourage efficient use of worker skills rather than low-value business venture creation.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhengyu Cai & John V. Winters, 2017. "Self-Employment Differentials among Foreign-Born STEM and Non-STEM Workers," Economics Working Paper Series 1706, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:okl:wpaper:1706
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://business.okstate.edu/site-files/docs/ecls-working-papers/OKSWPS1706.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shiri M. Breznitz & Qiantao Zhang, 2020. "Determinants of graduates’ entrepreneurial activity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1039-1056, December.
    2. Lenz, Anna-Katharina & Sutter, Christopher & Goldszmidt, Rafael & Zucco, Cesar, 2021. "Venture distress and problemistic search among entrepreneurs in Brazilian favelas," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    3. Qiantao Zhang & Chiara Marzocchi & Shiri M. Breznitz, 2025. "Educational diversity and work experience paths towards entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 1047-1069, August.
    4. Zhengyu Cai & Heather M. Stephens & John V. Winters, 2019. "Motherhood, migration, and self-employment of college graduates," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 611-629, October.
    5. Jun Yeong Lee & John V. Winters, 2022. "State Medicaid Expansion and the Self-Employed," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 925-954, October.
    6. Smaranda Pantea, 2022. "Self-employment in the EU: quality work, precarious work or both?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 403-418, January.
    7. Jun Yeong Lee & John V. Winters, 2024. "Too Cold to Venture There? January Temperature and Immigrant Self-Employment Across the United States," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 38(4), pages 249-270, November.
    8. Malcolm Brynin & Mohammed Shamsul Karim & Wouter Zwysen, 2019. "The Value of Self-Employment to Ethnic Minorities," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(5), pages 846-864, October.
    9. Zhengyu Cai, 2025. "Who works longer hours in smart cities?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 861-890, August.
    10. Podobnik, Boris & Dabić, Marina & Wild, Dorian & Di Matteo, Tiziana, 2023. "The impact of STEM on the growth of wealth at varying scales, ranging from individuals to firms and countries: The performance of STEM firms during the pandemic across different markets," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Guo, Liwen & Cheng, Zhiming & Tani, Massimiliano & Cook, Sarah & Zhao, Jiaqi & Chen, Xi, 2025. "Air pollution and entrepreneurship," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    12. Podobnik, Boris & Christopher Crawford, G. & Lichtenstein, Benyamin & Lipic, Tomislav & Wild, Dorian & Zhang, Xin & Stanley, H. Eugene, 2020. "The new wealth of nations: How STEM fields generate the prosperity and inequality of individuals, companies, and countries," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    13. Shiri M. Breznitz & Qiantao Zhang, 0. "Determinants of graduates’ entrepreneurial activity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-18.
    14. Mingzhi Hu & Zhongfeng Su & Wenping Ye, 2023. "The future-time reference of home-country language and immigrant self-employment: an imprinting perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 521-535, February.
    15. Liu, Jingting & Zhu, Ying & Serapio, Manuel & Cavusgil, S. Tamer, 2019. "The new generation of millennial entrepreneurs: A review and call for research," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 1-1.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:okl:wpaper:1706. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Harounan Kazianga (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sboksus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.