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A recent study finds that immigrants in Germany are not harming the economy, but often become self employed and currently employ more than one million people, Deutsche Welle reports.
A new study called "The Importance of the Ethnic Economy in Germany," commissioned by the German Economics Ministry, has found that since 1990, the number of immigrants who have been taking the plunge into self-employment has risen by 60 percent.
The study, carried out by the Institute for Research on Mid-sized Companies at the University of Mannheim, surveyed 2010 immigrants of predominantly Turkish, Greek and Italian origin. It found that three to four percent of all jobs in the country are created by self-employed people who don't come from Germany
The study also concluded that the number of new companies founded by foreigners was much higher, at 182 per 10,000 working people as opposed to just 122 among Germans.
German Deputy Economics Minister Rezzo Schlauch said the study showed that, contrary to popular belief, the jobs created by foreigners aren't just in ubiquitous döner kebab joints, vegetable and tailoring shops. "The social and economic importance of migrants is unfortunately still underestimated in Germany or not taken notice of at all."
"But in fact, self-employed foreigners are increasingly getting a foothold in all areas," Schlauch said. "And that builds a positive counterweight to the cliché in society that migrants are always somehow a social problem."
Tougher to get loans
At the same time, Schlauch said the study had found that it was more difficult for foreign self-employed workers to get bank loans than for Germans.
Very often, immigrants are forced to borrow the start-up capital from family and friends. This can make life difficult for immigrants.
According to the study, one-fifth of all self-employed Turks said they wanted to open a shop because they were unemployed. In the past five years, joblessness among foreigners has risen by a fourth and, at 20 percent, is almost twice the German average.
Companies started in need often don't survive long. And though immigrants may be turning to self-employment more frequently, they also fail at it much more often than Germans do.
