Pathways to self-employment and entrepreneurship in an immigrant community in Chicago

This dissertation is based on a case study of self-employment and business ownership in Little Village, a predominantly Mexican immigrant community in the city of Chicago. The research is based on two surveys, one of households residing within the perimeter of the Little Village neighborhood, and another of businesses located in the same geographic area. The design also allows us to study not only current business owners, but also "potential entrepreneurs"--individuals who have considered starting businesses but, for a variety of reasons have not done so. The survey also allows us to identify residents who are self-employed in the informal sector, an important group that is not included in most studies of entrepreneurship.; First, the study shows that the level of potential self-employment in the community is relatively high. Respondents who want to start a business differ from those not predisposed to do so in their entrepreneurial disposition, in their family links to business, and in their economic resources.; Second, the invisibility of Mexican self-employment-as reflected by census data- partly lies in the conventional definitions of labor force participation and employment status, which neglect a variety of informal activities that figure significantly in the income packaging strategies of immigrant families.; Third, while the residential community of Little Village is overwhelmingly Mexican, the business community is more ethnically heterogeneous. There are important differences in prior entrepreneurial experiences among ethnic groups. The informal economy is a common pathway to steady self-employment for Hispanics, whereas entry through employment in a co-ethnic firm was more common among Koreans. Ethnic-owned firms serve as a steppingstone to business ownership for compatriots because previous employment in a co-ethnic firm significantly increased the likelihood of acquiring skills relevant for running a business. For Koreans, access to employment in the ethnic economy is more prevalent than for immigrants from Mexico, the Middle-East and South-Asia. Lacking a strong ethnic economy to acquire training and skills, many Hispanic immigrants use the informal sector as means of acquiring the skills and capital necessary for starting a business in the formal realm.