Small Businesses in Springfield, Massachusetts: A Look at Latino Entrepreneurship

50 Pages Posted: 16 Sep 2011

See all articles by Ana Patricia Munoz

Ana Patricia Munoz

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Lynn Elaine Browne

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Sol Carbonell

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Prabal Chakrabarti

affiliation not provided to SSRN

DeAnna Green

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Yolanda K. Kodrzycki

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston - Research Department

Richard C. Walker

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Anna Steiger

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Bo Zhao

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Date Written: March 1, 2011

Abstract

One of the most pressing challenges for Springfield is increasing the labor force participation and employment rates of its residents. The city’s labor force participation rate is extremely low even when compared with other older industrial cities in the region. In Springfield’s Latino neighborhoods less than half of the working-age population is in the labor force. Through data analysis and interviews of business owners, this study focuses on business ownership as a potential strategy for job creation in the city and for income generation in impoverished areas. Springfield has self-employment rates similar to that of comparison cities in New England and in the past ten years, the number of Latinos self-employed in the city grew by 150 percent, a much faster rate than wage/salary workers. However, Springfield lags in the number of Latino-owned firms relative to the share of Latino population. Latino-owned businesses play an important role in providing additional services and support to Latino residents. Nevertheless, existing funding and technical assistance programs that are generally available to small businesses appear not to be reaching Latino entrepreneurs in Springfield, which tends to inhibit their survival and growth.

Keywords: small businesses, minority-owned businesses, Latino-owned businesses

Suggested Citation

Munoz, Ana Patricia and Browne, Lynn Elaine and Carbonell, Sol and Chakrabarti, Prabal and Green, DeAnna and Kodrzycki, Yolanda K. and Walker, Richard C. and Steiger, Anna and Zhao, Bo, Small Businesses in Springfield, Massachusetts: A Look at Latino Entrepreneurship (March 1, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1927522 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1927522

Ana Patricia Munoz (Contact Author)

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston ( email )

600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
United States

Lynn Elaine Browne

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

Sol Carbonell

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Boston ( email )

600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
United States

Prabal Chakrabarti

affiliation not provided to SSRN

DeAnna Green

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

Yolanda K. Kodrzycki

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston - Research Department ( email )

600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
United States
617-973-3809 (Phone)

Richard C. Walker

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston ( email )

600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
United States

Anna Steiger

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

Bo Zhao

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston ( email )

600 Atlantic Avenue
T-10
Boston, MA 02210
United States
617-973-3061 (Phone)
617-619-8357 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/bozhao/

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