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Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the Swedish Welfare State

Umeå University, Sweden, mikael.hjerm{at}soc.umu.se

This article puts into question the taken-for-granted view that immigrant entrepreneurship is a fast track towards integration in civil society. It does so by examining income and disposable income for immigrant entrepreneurs in Sweden in relation to immigrants that are not entrepreneurs. Data is drawn from the LOUISE database, which is a longitudinal register database covering all individuals above 16 years of age living in Sweden and includes income variables, age, sex, education, employment status and so on. It is shown that immigrant entrepreneurs have substantially lower incomes than employed immigrants and only marginally higher levels of disposable incomes compared to the unemployed when other background variables are held constant. The relationship between the two groups did not change between 1992 and 1998 suggesting that, contrary to what was expected, differences in the state of the economy are not decisive in explaining income differences between the different groups of immigrants. It is suggested that entrepreneurship for immigrants may or may not be positive for the individual, but it is clear that it is not a successful way to fight economic marginalization and segregation. It puts into question the effectiveness of the whole social democratic welfare state when it comes to integrating immigrants into society.

Key Words: ethnic entrepreneurship • immigrant entrepreneurship • income • Sweden

Sociology, Vol. 38, No. 4, 739-756 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038504045862


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