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Self‐Employment and Earnings Among Migrants in Australia
Author(s) -
Lee Anh T.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international migration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.681
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1468-2435
pISSN - 0020-7985
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2435.00077
Subject(s) - salary , earnings , immigration , wage , census , population , foreign born , labour economics , demographic economics , economics , position (finance) , political science , sociology , demography , accounting , finance , law , market economy
This article contributes to the small Australian literature on the earnings of immigrants in the self‐employment sector. Earnings functions for both the foreign‐born and Australian‐born are estimated, and the results show that compared with native‐born workers, foreign‐born workers have higher earnings in the wage/salary sector but lower earnings in the self‐employment sector. Among the foreign‐born, the results suggest that self‐employed immigrants are less skilled compared with those who are wage/salary employed. Thus, low‐skilled immigrants may be forced into self‐employment. There is no evidence of immigrant “catch‐up” in the self‐employment sector. Among wage/salary workers, however, immigrant wages are characterized by a “catch‐up” effect.