Immigrant in Canada – Their propensity to own a private incorporated business surpasses that of the comparison group

Data from the Labour Force Survey indicate that in 2009, 17.5% of immigrants aged 18 to 69 were self-employed compared with 14.4% of the Canadian-born population. However, self-employment can mean many things, from owning and managing a large private incorporated company with many employees to pursuing an unincorporated activity a few hours a week after working at a full-time paid job. Until now, researchers have been unable to estimate the prevalence of immigrant-owned businesses and the number of jobs they create, mainly because of a lack of information on the immigration status of business owners. This problem has been solved in a new dataset created by Statistics Canada which is used to study these issues.

Among the 2000 immigrant entry cohort—the group of immigrants who became permanent residents in 2000—the number of immigrant owners of private incorporated businesses increased from 1,800 one year after entry (in 2001) to roughly 8,000 nine years later (in 2010). By 2010, 5.3% of immigrant taxfilers in the 2000 entry cohort owned a private company (Chart 1). This compared with 4.8% of the comparison group of taxfilers, composed mainly of persons born in Canada (right side of Chart 1). In short, after immigrants have been in Canada for a number of years, their propensity to own a private incorporated business surpasses that of the comparison group.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Business Ownership and Employment in Immigrant-owned Firms in Canada