Unequal Entrepreneurship: Race, Nativity and the Social Organization of Self-Employment

Ali Chaudhary, University of California, Davis

How do race and generational status shape the social organization of contemporary self-employment? Using the Current Population Survey(2000-2010) and three sets of logistic regression models, this paper unpacks the concept of self-employment by analyzing (1) generational disparities in self-employment across four major race/ethnicity groups (Whites, Blacks, Asians and Hispanics), (2) racial disparities in self-employment across three generation groups (first-generation, second-generation and third-generation) and (3)race-generation group disparities in self-employment across low and high-status industry-sectors. Results reveal self-employment is not restricted to the first-generation for Asians and Whites and that multiple generations of Whites are generally more likely than non-Whites to be self-employed. Industry-level analyses indicate first-generation immigrants are more likely to be self-employment in low status industry-sectors while first and second-generation Whites are more likely to be self-employed in high-status industry-sectors. Overall findings show race-generation disparities shape self-employment reflecting exclusionary contexts of reception for immigrants and racial minorities.