First- and second-generation immigrants in Sweden : A study on self-employment

This paper analyses the probability that first- and second-generation immigrants in Sweden enter the self-employment market, and the propensity of being self-employed in certain industry levels. Furthermore, whether the motives and characteristics for choosing self-employment differ between generations by including control variables. To solve this thesis question, a cross-sectional sampling from the European Social Survey database between the years 2010 to 2018 and the Linear Probability Model was used. The result in this study indicated that the propensity to become self-employed is not significant between the analysed generations. Concluding that first- and second-generation immigrants have an equal amount of activeness in self-employment and that all characteristics have an effect on their propensity to become self-employed. The generations being self-employed in the low-barrier industry is dependent on their educational level. It was found that females had the highest probability of being self-employed in comparison to males. However, a drawback of this study was the sample size which was significantly small and also the multiple variables that were insignificant.