Entrepreneurship and ethnic economy employment among Chinese and Vietnamese residents of Warsaw

Immigrant-run businesses are playing an increasingly important role in the Polish economy. This paper focuses on the patterns of entrepreneurship and ethnic economy employment among Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants residing in the Warsaw metropolitan area (WMA). It uses microdata from a survey of Vietnamese and Chinese residents of the WMA and employs logistic regression analysis in order to assess the factors that affect the odds of entrepreneurship and ethnic economy employment among them. Subsequently, the paper analyses the impact of entrepreneurship and ethnic economy employment on the earnings of Vietnamese and Chinese citizens living in the WMA. Empirical analysis demonstrates that Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants are not pushed to become entrepreneurs by an opportunity structure that blocks alternative options and enjoy significantly higher incomes than native-born Polish citizens. The ethnic economy becomes a temporary adjustment mechanism for newly arrived migrants but is not lucrative for longer-term residents of these two origins.