Alan: Immigrants are more entrepreneurial -- and, in my experience more industrious -- than native-born Americans.
11% of Syrian immigrants launch their own business in comparison to 4% of immigrants generally and 3% of native-born Americans.
In addition to my "birth tongue" I speak Spanish fluently and have long worked (and worshipped) with my local Hispanic community, many of whom establish thriving businesses on their own; others I have helped along the way.
Among my white friends, I have known far fewer native-born Americans who created their own businesses, with two notable exception: general contractors and tradespeople, whose businesses are disproportionately reliant on immigrant workers.
In my capacity as "Migrant Educator" for Orange County Schools in central North Carolina, I have been close to the states agricultural economy for 25 years. Without exception, old-school red-neck farmers tell the same story: were it not for latino laborers their farms would have gone belly up long ago.
If you read this preface and are inclined to "blow it off" as "fake news," please listen to the following 4 minute report from Kai Ryssdal's "Marketplace" radio program.
This Would-Be Dentist Embodies The Entrepreneurial Spirit Of Syrian Refugees
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