Sunday, August 27, 2006
A self-employed plumber
Many physicians are self-employed
Many physicians are self-employed
One advantage of self-employment
By: Ali Ismail
0778-842 5262 (United Kingdom)
WHY ASIANS PREFER SELF-EMPLOYMENT
This pathway in life favours the professional with saleable skills
It can be no matter of surprise to the vast majority of our readership that self-employment is a favourite avenue for work among the UK’s South Asian communities, with particular regard to the Bangladeshis. This is a matter of common observation.
In view of the weighty subject, governed by the sheer numbers of persons involved, it is also surprising that it has received so little attention from academic and political analysts.
However, there has been a recent study of this very topic by Dr Tariq Modood and Dr Hilary Metcalf, both of the Policy Studies Institute, which cannot but be of interest to this organ’s supporters.
It has to be stated from the outset that the two above academics focused their attention on the ethnic minorities generally and South Asians in particular without singling out the Bangladeshis.
The summary can be put into a précis as follows:
The general background is that the level of self-employment among Pakistanis and Bangladeshis is higher than for the European peoples. It stands at about one-third as opposed to a fifth of the Europeans. That amounts to a difference of 15% or so, which is significant. The findings were gleaned from, among other things, interviews with 129 self-employed South Asians.
The most disturbing aspect thereof is that the majority of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were “pushed” into self-employment rather than “pulled” there and that the active factors were perceived to be discrimination in the job market and racism in the workplace.
By way of mild contrast, the Indians in the UK seemed to have a tendency to be “pulled” by positive factors such as the brightness of the prospects offered by self-employment as opposed to the life of an employee working under the direction of a workplace boss.
This “push-pull” factor seems to have a resultant in the form of better performance by the Indians statistically as opposed to the Punjabis and East Bengalis. In the case of the last two it seems that the religion, Islam, plays a powerful part insofar that it promises grounds for optimism which seem, thus far, to not have produced the results collectively achieved by the Indians, many of whom may turn out to be Hindus.
When business failure rears its ugly head it seems that, again, religion plays a major part as a comforter and a reassurance with the Pakistanis and the Bangladeshis.
As the person who presently occupies the throne once remarked “training is everything.” It seems that, in the views of the two researchers, the Indians concentrated more than the other two groups on training for business life and that this alone contributed in no small way to subsequent success.
Nearly half of the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis reported that they thought their incomes were “low” while the Indians and Afro-Asians had almost no one speaking thus.
The pattern appears to be that self-employment in the vehicle of a business is seen by all the Asian groups as a way of providing work for the family as a whole. Many businesses expand and as this process goes on they recruit from beyond the family circle.
The two academics concluded as follows and I cannot do better than to quote their exact words: “A major issue is whether the high incidence of self-employment amongst South Asian immigrants will continue. Whilst there is some evidence that self-employment contributes to the economic advancement of some groups, the study found little to imply a predisposition to self-employment as such amongst any of the three South Asian ethnic groups.
“
Self-employment was sought to increase standing with the family for African-Asians and Pakistanis and the family was an important resource especially for Indian entrepreneurs. Yet, poor labour market prospects and racism had played a major role in the decision of Pakistanis (and a lesser role in the decisions of African-Asians) to enter business.
“As evidence suggests this is reducing, the circumstances precipitating greater self-employment amongst these groups seems to be waning. Moreover, most of the self-employed did not want their adult sons to work in the business and the second generation may have quite different expectations and sources of family and community support to those of immigrants. These findings suggest that the continuation of current rates of Asian self-employment cannot be taken for granted.”
Another researcher, Michelle Craig, in October 2003 summarised her self-employment data thus:
Ethnic groups3
Women
Men
All
All in employment
12,311
15,478
27,789
All in self-employment
825
7%
2,389
15%
3,214
12%
White
775
7%
2,211
15%
2,986
12%
Mixed
*
*
12
9%
Asian/
Asian British
26
8%
113
20%
139
16%
Indian
19
9%
51
18%
70
14%
Pakistani/
Bangladeshi
*
48
25%
50
20%
Black/Black British
*
29
13%
37
8%
African
*
12
11%
16
8%
Caribbean
*
17
16%
20
9%
Chinese
*
*
12
11%
Other ethnic group
*
17
13%
25
13%
Now, there is another aspect of all of this which is to single out the group of self-employed who are professionals of one sort or another rather than entrepreneurial businessmen. Think of plumbers, electricians, self-employed accountants and so on.
Now, such an avenue provides an “escape” from the dreaded workplace boss while putting laboriously acquired knowledge and skills to gainful (monetary) use.
Such is the importance of this subject and such is my zeal, that I have gone all over the country to gather views about self-employment.
Claire is an accountancy firm’s secretary in Inverness and, while being an employee now, had been previously self-employed. She has the following to say: “I would prefer to be self-employed right now for the taxation perks. You have to pay for your own holidays but on the other side you can charge travel and other expenses against the taxman. My boss is very good.”
Mohammed who is a self-employed IT contractor in Leeds has this advice for us:
“My first response would be that you need to experience life as an employee. You need to think how it is done and get on with the boss. One needs to get that experience at least. There is Theory X and Theory Y in management science.
“Racism (in the job market and workplace) should be exposed for the sake of the country.
“The Jewish community shows us the way. Obstacles were put in their path but they persevered. With regard to the ethnic monitoring forms (EMFs), I was born in Kashmir and came over when I was four. My heart belongs to Yorkshire and I always write ‘British’ on those forms. I will not fill in a racially based EMF.
“With regard to the “glass ceilings” and “glass doors” which plague Asian employees and job seekers, we have to note these things and challenge them.
“My advice to your readers is: ‘Work hard, play fair and everything will fit into place.’”
Ali of Cardiff says: “ Self-employment is a hard task but if you are successful it is a good choice. If you have experience in a particular business area you have a better chance.
“Working as a self-employed professional is safe if you have training behind you. Preparation is the key.
“There is job discrimination as regards race and culture. There can be 50-60% “no” because of who you are in job applications. There is no need for EMFs if the employer is genuinely non-racially minded.”
My conclusion is that self-employment should not be undertaken as a desperate measure to escape discrimination and that the life of the trained self-employed professional is likely to be happier than that of the unprepared person who starts an entrepreneurial business and just hopes for the best.
THE END
This article was published in the 31 August, 2006 issue of the Bangla Mirror, the first English language weekly for the United Kingdom's Bangladeshis - read everywhere from the Arctic to the sub-Antarctic.
# posted by Ali @ 7:46 AM 
