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Nearly 23.5 per cent of all self-employed people in Belgium have a foreign origin, the study of “Entrepreneurship and diversity” by SME observatory has revealed.
According to the study, the proportion of self-employed people in the entire labour force has increased from 14.2 to 15.8 per cent, while the share of people of foreign origin in the labour market has increased from 9.2 to 10.3 per cent, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Self-employed people with foreign origin face different obstacles such as language proficiency, a lack of or lack of recognition for their diplomas or a more unfavourable social and financial capital, the researchers have revealed. This indicates that the level of education has a determining role, as those with a higher level of education become entrepreneurs.
However, that isn’t the case necessarily for native-born people, as the data show that people that have attained higher education levels that are engaged with entrepreneurship are usually those of foreign origin rather than locals of the same level of education.
Furthermore, in terms of gender representation, women remain underrepresented, and authorities have announced various measures to boost entrepreneurship in this category for the upcoming years.
“It starts with their upbringing, they are taught less relevant skills for entrepreneurship, there are fewer role models and they have a different social network,” the researchers pointed out in this regard.
As per self-employers with foreign origin, the majority of them come from an EU country – more than 60 per cent of the total. On the other end of the scale is the Maghreb, as they represent only 6.2 per cent of entrepreneurs of foreign origin in the country, followed by Sub-Saharan Africans (4.3 per cent), while people from Asia and Eastern European countries make up the majority of entrepreneurs in the country.
The researchers also point out that Belgium having more self-employed people isn’t related to demographic reasons only but the central geographical location of the country in addition to the EU institution proximity, can be some of the factors. Alongside, as local Belgian media reveal, this is a general phenomenon of the autominsation of the labour market.
People with a foreign origin, those who were born with a foreign nationality or one of their parents was born with a foreign nationality, represent 25.2 per cent of the working population in Belgium and 31.6 per cent of the entire population of 11.59 million. More specifically, almost 3.7 million people of foreign origin are currently living in Belgium.
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