Race and self-employment: The role of training programs, self-employment background, and access to financing

This paper uses data from Project GATE to examine the efficacy of offering free self-employment assistance to unemployed individuals interested in self-employment, overall and by race. We also examine the effect of participants’ self-employment background, finances, and personal circumstances on their self-employment outcomes. We find that Project GATE led to significant gains in the outcomes of unemployed participants, particularly for black participants. Our analyses also show that significant portions of the race disparities in self-employment outcomes among unemployed participants are attributed to race differences in access to financing. The policy implications of our findings are discussed.