Vietnamese Immigrant Entrepreneurship: A Comparison of Self-Employment in Vietnam and the United States

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the case of Vietnam as an example of this phenomenon. In Vietnam, the World Bank Indicators show a self-employment rate of 60% among men in 2008, whereas the United States rate is less than 15%. This wide gap between the two countries even greater than that between Mexico and the U.S. (Fairlie and Woodruff, 2007). We use census microdata from Vietnam and the U.S. as well as an understanding of the economic systems in the two countries to understand the differences in the self-employment rate of the Vietnamese in Vietnam versus Vietnamese immigrants in the U.S. and to give some insight into the nature of self-employment in the two countries. We utilize two analysis methods on various variables to investigate the differences in the rates of self- employment. This diversified analysis enables one to understand the differences between the two economies and the differences between Vietnamese workers in Vietnam and Vietnamese immigrants in terms of self-employment. Through these analyses, we can explain some parts of the differences.