Self-Employment Among Immigrants: A Last Resort?

Abstract

Based on unique register data of male immigrants in Denmark, we investigate whether self-employment is used as a last resort. To identify self-employment as a last resort, we define different types of immigrants as a function of transition probabilities between wage-employment, non-employment and self-employment. The transition probabilities are estimated using discrete competing risks models controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and duration dependence. We find that for certain groups of immigrants, a large fraction can be characterized as using self-employment as a last resort.

Keywords: discrete competing risks, duration, random effects, self-employment

JEL Classification: C23, C25, C41, J23