South–south migration and entrepreneurship: the case of Chile

There is a vast literature of migrants' inclusion into labor markets in developed economies. However, there is limited information regarding inclusion in emerging economies, usually characterized by inequality and informality. Chile provides a unique opportunity to study the integration of migrant's trough entrepreneurial ventures due to the recent migration, especially from Venezuelan. The aim is to explore the migrant entrepreneurs and the relationship between being a migrant and participating in the labor market through entrepreneurship. Using a probit model corrected for selection bias and Chilean labor market data between 2017 and 2022, we examine labor decisions among migrants and locals, controlling for other sociodemographic characteristics. Our results suggest that migrants are more likely to participate in the labor market and being a migrant increases the probability of becoming an entrepreneur. However, the probability of becoming an entrepreneur is not significant when focusing on self-employed individuals and especially during unstable periods marked by social unrest (2019) and COVID-19 (2020). Our findings support that entrepreneurship is a common strategy for migrants to address unemployment, underemployment, and informality in an emerging economy. Finally, we highlight the need to complement entrepreneurship-promoting policies with strategies that enhance formality, facilitating the inclusion of migrant entrepreneurs.