Traditional approaches in migration studies suggest that self-employment and entrepreneurial activities enhance the perspectives of economic advancement of immigrants in host countries. Therefore, in many popular destinations in Western Europe and Northern America, policies encouraging the self-employment of immigrants have been proposed. But does the self-employment contribute to the economic integration of immigrants? Is it a universal, one-way avenue that guarantees the successful insertion of foreigners in a new socio-economic environment? Based on the German Socio-Economic Panel dataset, this study empirically investigates the effect of self-employment on the economic integration of immigrants in one of the most important host countries in Europe. Our results demonstrate that the current self-employment status in Germany is associated with higher income in absolute and relative (self-assessment) terms. The immigrants with previous self-employment experience in Germany are less integrated than the average. This result indirectly shows that the business economy of immigrants is associated with a high risk of failure and not all self-employed individuals succeed in advancing in economic terms in a host country. Consequently, we argue that host countries should be more cautious in promoting entrepreneurship as the “perfect” and “universal” strategy that improves economic integration.

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自营职业对移民经济一体化的影响：德国的证据

移民研究的传统方法表明，自营职业和企业家活动增强了东道国移民经济发展的前景。因此，在西欧和北美的许多受欢迎的目的地，已经提出了鼓励移民自谋职业的政策。但是，自谋职业是否有助于移民的经济融合？它是一种通用的单向途径，可以确保在新的社会经济环境中成功吸引外国人吗？基于德国社会经济专家组数据，该研究从经验上研究了自营职业对欧洲最重要的东道国之一的移民经济一体化的影响。我们的结果表明，在绝对和相对（自我评估）条件下，德国目前的自雇状况与较高的收入相关。在德国拥有自营职业经历的移民融合程度低于平均水平。该结果间接表明，移民的商业经济与失败的高风险相关，并非所有自雇人士都能在东道国的经济方面取得成功。因此，我们认为，东道国在促进企业家精神方面应更加谨慎，因为企业家精神是改善经济一体化的“完美”和“普遍”战略。该结果间接表明，移民的商业经济与失败的高风险相关，并非所有自雇人士都能在东道国的经济方面取得成功。因此，我们认为，东道国在促进企业家精神方面应更加谨慎，因为企业家精神是改善经济一体化的“完美”和“普遍”战略。该结果间接表明，移民的商业经济与失败的高风险相关，并非所有自雇人士都能在东道国的经济方面取得成功。因此，我们认为，东道国在促进企业家精神方面应更加谨慎，因为企业家精神是改善经济一体化的“完美”和“普遍”战略。