The present findings show that immigrants from certain European countries of origin are more inclined towards self–employment, but male immigrants from West Asia also have a high propensity to self–employment. However, the fact that self–employment is not particularly prevalent among minorities such as the Chinese, East and Southeast Asians, who are known for their entrepreneurial history and large ethnic enclaves, may suggest that entrepreneurship history and immigrant enclave may be less relevant in Canada than in the United States, as pointed out by Langlois and Razin (1995: 351).
The findings are not inconsistent with the view that immigrants encounter various hardships in the labour market, but they suggest that those who have the means to do so, that is, more successful immigrants, manage to engage in self–employment as a means to better themselves financially, possibly as an avenue of upward mobility.