This study empirically analyses the determinants of Singapore’s university graduates’ employment decision between self-employment and salaried-employment. The binary probit model is used to estimate the effect of three main groups of variables on the employment decision. The thee main groups of variables are the personal characteristics, experience and education, and family background of the graduate. A mailed questionaire survey was carried out on 7300 university graduates in Singapore. A final number of 2486 (34.1%) usable questionaire was obtained. The findings of this study suggest that the personal characteristics and the education and experience of the graduates are significant determinants of the employment decision. However, the family background of the individual was found to be insignificant.
Labor market assimilation and the self-employment decision of immigrant entrepreneurs