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Immigration by self-employed and freelance migrants from third countries to Germany ,
The pillars of labour migration include both labour migrants, qualified professionals and researchers, as well as self-employed people and freelancers. Holders of a residence title in accordance with section 21 of the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz – AufenthG) were examined more closely for the first time in the context of this study with the aid of a questionnaire.
Working Paper 48 presents the socio-demographic and economic characteristics of the third-country nationals who were included in the study, as well as their professional surroundings. It was not possible to take self-employed EU nationals into account since they do not need any such residence title because of freedom of establishment.
The main countries of origin of self-employed migrants
The main countries of origin of self-employed migrants with a residence title in accordance with section 21 of the Residence Act are the United States of America, the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.
The survey revealed that 24.5 percent of holders of a residence title in accordance with section 21 of the Residence Act are working in the sector of “Art, Entertainment and Leisure”, whilst 21.3 percent are in the “Trade” sector and 18 percent work in the field of “Education and Teaching”.
The distribution of the self-employed among the sectors however differs considerably in some cases among the individual nationalities. For instance, US Americans are represented in large numbers in the “Education and Teaching” sector, whilst the main field of activity of Chinese self-employed persons is the “Trade” sector.
Self-employed people have an above-average level of education
It was revealed that self-employed people have an above-average level of education. 89.4 percent of them have finished school, and 83.6 percent have a vocational qualification. A total of 69.1 percent are graduates and another 10.1 percent have completed vocational training or are master craftsmen.
You will find further results in the Working Paper.
The study was drafted by: Andreas H. Block und Isabell Klingert
This publication is only available in German language.