Economic outcomes of female immigrant entrepreneurship

The contribution of female immigrant entrepreneurs is not acknowledged in the debates about the economic impact of Australian immigration. Often, the immigration debate is controversial and evolves around the questions, such as: What contributions do immigrants make? Do they add to or take from the country in net economic terms? Do immigrants take jobs from non-immigrants? Do immigrants create jobs? Do immigrants have higher unemployment rates than non-immigrants? Unfortunately, such debates attract anti-immigration views such as: immigrants are highly welfare-dependent and are welfare cheats; immigrants avoid paying taxes; immigrants employ their own kind and harbour other illegal immigrants; immigrants operate in the black economy; immigrants commit crimes; and many other negative expressions that add to the paranoia against immigrants and immigration policies. This paper is interested in engaging in the immigration debate by questioning the economic contributions of a group of Asian-born women entrepreneurs in Sydney. This empirical study shows that they make significant economic contributions to new businesses and to job creation in addition to other non-quantifiable economic benefits to Australia.