Study: Immigrants More Likely To Open A Small Business Than American-Born Workers
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A new report out today from the Fiscal Policy Institute finds that immigrants are more likely than U.S.-born workers to start small businesses.
In Philadelphia, immigrants make up nine-percent of the population but 14-percent of small business owners. And while just three-percent of U.S. born Philadelphians own businesses, 3.5-percent of immigrants do.
Labor economist Mark Price of Keystone Research Center says the report confirms what many people intuitively thought but with firm numbers.
"Immigrants tend to do a better job of forming small businesses than they represent of the larger economy."
Price says he doesn't think immigrants are necessarily super-entrepreneurs but cultural and language barriers make it harder for them to get jobs.
"It can be easier to make your way in the U.S. economy as a small business owner than as an employee."
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