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Ethnic minority business and the employment of illegal immigrants

Author

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  • Trevor Jones
  • Monder Ram
  • Paul Edwards

Abstract

Based on detailed case histories of South Asian workers and their co-ethnic employers in the West Midlands clothing and catering industries, this paper examines the use of illegal immigrant labour in small ethnic minority firms and attempts to tease out its implications for the migrants themselves, their employers and the broader national interest. To establish a proper context, we begin with a review of the recent literature on the structural changes -- principally the confluence of globalization and post-industrialism -- which have generated a seemingly unstoppable flow of labour migration; and the official state policies that have forced much of it underground. Our own case histories are seen as one of countless local expressions of this clash between economic and political imperatives, a clash which effectively criminalizes employers and workers for providing a positive economic and social contribution to the wider good. In the present case, it is only by employing immigrant labour that struggling entrepreneurs can survive in hyper-competitive sectors of the economy and the stark choice is between official tolerance of law-breaking or driving many of these enterprises to the wall.

Suggested Citation

  • Trevor Jones & Monder Ram & Paul Edwards, 2006. "Ethnic minority business and the employment of illegal immigrants," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 133-150, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:18:y:2006:i:2:p:133-150
    DOI: 10.1080/08985620500531865
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Esther Salvi & Frank-Martin Belz & Sophie Bacq, 2023. "Informal Entrepreneurship: An Integrative Review and Future Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 265-303, March.
    2. Monder Ram & Nicholas Theodorakopoulos & Trevor Jones, 2008. "Forms of capital, mixed embeddedness and Somali enterprise," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(3), pages 427-446, September.
    3. Colin C. Williams & Adnan S. Efendic, 2020. "Evaluating the Relationship Between Migration and Participation in Undeclared Work: Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 4, pages 592-606, December.
    4. Mikayla Novak, 2024. "The law and economics of indigenous and ethnic minorities: introduction," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 391-401, June.
    5. Dabić, Marina & Vlačić, Bozidar & Paul, Justin & Dana, Leo-Paul & Sahasranamam, Sreevas & Glinka, Beata, 2020. "Immigrant entrepreneurship: A review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 25-38.
    6. Ken Clark & Stephen Drinkwater, 2010. "Patterns of ethnic self-employment in time and space: evidence from British Census microdata," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 323-338, April.
    7. Arrighetti, Alessandro & Canello, Jacopo, 2023. "Explaining the Multifaceted Patterns of Migrant Entrepreneurship in the Global Economy: A Resource-Based Approach," EconStor Preprints 273451, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. I. H. Burnley, 2016. "Developments and Complementarities in International Migration Paradigms," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 77-94, February.
    9. Clark, Ken & Drinkwater, Stephen, 2006. "Changing Patterns of Ethnic Minority Self-Employment in Britain: Evidence from Census Microdata," IZA Discussion Papers 2495, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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