Penalizzazione etnica e occupazione indipendente: alcune evidenze sul caso italiano

Differently from many older migration countries, in Italy immigrants are disadvantaged in the access to self-employment when compared to natives. To understand this outcome, the high rate of native self-employment and the role that self-employment has traditionally played for low-educated workers has to be considered. Following the ethnic penalty literature, the article compares male native and immigrant self-employment probabilities and discusses the role of education, years since migration and the country of origin. All three variables are relevant in the frame of ever-lower chances to be self-employed for immigrants. Education and years since migration seem to suggest a positive selection of immigrant self-employed. Differences by origin seem related to the ethnic penalization in the labour market of the different groups. Once again, the Italian case proves interesting to confront with traditional hypotheses on immigrants' economic incorporation.