Study on Children of U.S. Immigrant Entrepreneurs

The Immigrant Learning Center (ILC) has recently released a report examining diverse issues related to immigrant entrepreneurship whose parents had their own businesses, which were usually small and local. The study focused on the children of U.S. immigrant entrepreneurs, specifically Asian American and Latino graduate and professional students. They all grew up in households in the U.S. and some of them were born there while others immigrated to the U.S. in childhood. All of them have one thing in common: their immigrant entrepreneur parents and experiences growing up around the family business heavily influenced their desire to pursue an education in the U.S. and determined which jobs to work in the States. According to the study, among the most vivid memories of several students are those that focused on the interconnections between their home lives and the family business. They spent long hours in the business environment. Parents differed in their approaches to the direct involvement of their children. Some encouraged this involvement especially with tasks that involved direct contact with customers in businesses such as restaurants and daycare facilities. In several cases, the children, who often possessed more advanced English language skills than their parents, served as vital language brokers. Other parents consciously shielded their children from assuming any roles in the business particularly from activities that involved manual exertion. Education is very highly valued by immigrant entrepreneur parents and many parents viewed education as a vehicle for respect and stability as well as advancement, as a result, the young adults interviewed had achieved high education levels. Many of the people interviewed had pursued advanced studies. They related how their immigrant parents wanted them to excel educationally, get good, stable U.S. jobs, and live more comfortable lives in the U.S. than their parents had. ILC found that "there is an inherent appreciation among the adult children of immigrant entrepreneurs for the sacrifices their parents made to ensure that they have successful careers and lead normal lives in their adopted homeland". 1 Dec 2011 http://www.migrationexpert.com/visa/us_immigration_news/2011/dec/0/466/study_on_children_of_u.s._immigrant_entrepreneurs