An Empirical Analysis of International Migrant Business Ownership and Employment in Regional Australia*

Abstract

A broad consensus exists that Australian economic activity is too heavily concentrated in capital cities, and regional employment creation should be encouraged. Given the magnitude of international migration to Australia, it is important to determine the impact of migration on regional development by investigating business ownership and job creation by international migrants in regional areas. This paper examines the probability that regional migrant business owners are employers – and thereby employment generators – using a multivariate logit model. We find that migrant business owners with staff are more likely to be male, married and live in regional NSW, metropolitan Victoria and regional and metropolitan Queensland.