Examine the association between self-employment and return migrants in Ethiopia: Evidence from Gondar city youth returnees

Alene, Endalew Terefe Article Examine the association between self-employment and return migrants in Ethiopia: Evidence from Gondar city youth returnees Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Provided in Cooperation with: Springer Nature Suggested Citation: Alene, Endalew Terefe (2023) : Examine the association between selfemployment and return migrants in Ethiopia: Evidence from Gondar city youth returnees, Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, ISSN 2192-5372, Springer, Heidelberg, Vol. 12, Iss. 1, pp. 1-22, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-023-00288-x This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/290273 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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RESEARCH Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-023-00288-x Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Examine theassociation betweenself-employment andreturn migrants inEthiopia: evidence fromGondar city youth returnees Endalew Terefe Alene1* Abstract Purpose: This study attempted to contribute to the existing literature on return migration by framing the discussion within the association between self-employment and returning migrants in the context of Ethiopia particularly on Gondar city youth returnees. Design/methodology/approach: The study has used a combination of cross-sectional and descriptive research design with a quantitative approach. Quantitative data from 195 youth returnees using a survey questionnaire were employed to address the study objectives. A Census sampling strategy was employed to select study participants. To test the study hypothesizes, a χ2 test was implemented to show the association between independent and dependent variables. Findings: The findings of this study showed that there is no association between self-employment and return migrants. More specifically, the study results revealed that sectoral and occupational experience gained from abroad do not help return migrants for new business formation. Research limitations/implications: This study which was focused only on selfemployed return migrants where comes from Saudi Arabia, likely does not represent the whole return migrants from abroad. In addition, this study does not include all independent variables that influence the self-employment of return migrants. It only considers occupational and sectoral experience. To understand comprehensively, future research will do by considering all indicators of self-employment of return migrants and also make a comparative analysis between urban and rural return migrants’ possibility to become self-employed. Practical implications: Return migration is one of the demographic phenomena in the world which needs attention from government and non-government organizations. Taking into account this, the paper will serve as an input for policymakers and local officials to consider self-employment carefully to support returnees’ sustainable entrepreneurial performance and economic growth. It will also help officials to understand some of the challenges that self-employed returnees have been faced including *Correspondence: eteref[email protected] 1 Urban Development & Regional Planning, Department of Development and Environmental Management Studies, University of Gondar, PO Box 192, Gondar, Ethiopia Page 2 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 the provision of working area, formal credit, and pieces of training consistent with the experience brought from abroad and tax incentives. Originality/value: Studies on youth return migration in sub-Saharan Africa countries are limited and this study will contribute to the return migration literature with an attempt to examine the association between self-employment and return migration in the context of Ethiopia. Accordingly, it examines the relationship between self-employment among youth return migrants by taking sectoral and occupational experience as major indicators. Keywords: Self-employment, Return migration, Occupational experience, Sectoral experience, Gondar city, Association Introduction In this contemporary urban world, migration flows mainly from the global south urban and rural area tend to lead to the emergence of new Diasporas. Such concentrations of migrant groups cause the increment of various seedbed conditions for self-employment and entrepreneurship (Kourtit etal., 2013). As evidences indicated that over the last two decades entrepreneurship among return migrants has played a pivotal role in the enhancement of the urban economy in many developing countries (Naudé etal., 2017). Return migrants as an entrepreneur have a considerable impact on the welfare of urban communities, in particular a contribution to innovation and growth, creation of new jobs for less favored population groups, advancement of benefits from cultural diversity, and reinforcement of economic opportunities related to international connectivity (Kone etal., 2021). Furthermore, returning migrants are assumed to bring with them additional human capital, while migrants’ remittances often help to ease poverty and provide a means of investment in small and mediumsized businesses in the presence of capital constraints (Black etal., 2009). According to Giambra and Mckenzie (2019) migrants often have a greater likelihood of being self-employed at the destination than natives, and has sought to explain why this is the case and to estimate their contribution to the economy of the receiving region. On the contrary, this study focused to examine the association between self-employment and return migrants concerning the role of remittances in funding self-employment activities for remaining family members, and on the tendency of return migrants to engage in self-employment activities. In contrast, the immigration literature stresses that self-employment is often a common occupation at the destination, and we might think that existing self-employed individuals will be better able to succeed in self-employment at the destination, so that becoming self-employed could increase the likelihood of migration (Kone etal., 2021). Self-employment requires investment (finance) at start-up, and credit constraints prevent small business development. The high temporary overseas income allows those migrants interested in transferring occupations to self-employment to accumulate savings (Mesnard, 2004). In return, these savings become a critical determinant of occupational choice. Those with high savings choose self-employment, while others decide for waged employment. Moreover, a higher likelihood of returning home might induce some migrants to enter self-employment to accumulate financial, human, or social capital to be used once back to their home countries (Kautto, 2019). Page 3 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 Most self-employment activities in developing countries are in the informal sector and the enterprises set up by return migrants are no exception. In Ethiopia, the 2020 survey reveals 943,178 persons out of the 5,844,877 employed persons were working in the informal sector, make up nearly one-sixth of the total employment (CSA, 2020). Evidence shows that substantial losses of African human capital resulting from the emigration of skilled professionals and bring negative consequences of skilled migration on economic development in African countries (Makina, 2012). These forces governments of a nation to propose policy instruments that seek to facilitate the return of African professionals to their countries of origin, where they can make contributions toward the national development of respective countries. Ethiopia is one of the largest producers of migrants in Africa accompanied by increased returnees, mainly as a result of mass deportations of nationals from abroad, especially from Saudi Arabia with 163,000 forcibly returned between November 2013 and March 2014 (Wickramasekara, 2019). Jobs in the formal economy are relatively scarce and income inequality is becoming wider in Ethiopia and due to these reasons many people choose to either move abroad for temporarily or to become self-employed. As result self-employment and migration now is the main source of income (Bigsten etal., 2013). There is a wide range of researches that investigated return migrants in the global south counties. In this regard, a study by Bensassi and Jabbour (2017) on return migration and entrepreneurial success in Egypt showing that return migrant firms in the Egyptian case are more successful due to the advantage of the experience acquired abroad by the return migrant and more starting capital with accumulated enough human and physical skills after his/her return will have an important factor. Furthermore, (Luchyk, 2017) conducted an empirical analysis on wage employment and self-employment as impacted by international work experience and managerial skills on being self-employed after return on polish return migrants. And then, he concluded that low skill jobs abroad accompanied with lack of required experience negatively caused to become salaried worker after return to Poland. In Ethiopia, a study by Bilgili etal. (2018) on return migrants’ perception of living conditions revealed that the migration situation of the entire cycle affects the living conditions of migrants up on return. A study on female return migration and reintegration strategies in Ethiopia by Kuschminder (2014), revealed that the structural environments which are the governments’ policies and approach toward returnees have an impact on the reintegration of female returnees. Research on illegal human migration: socioeconomic re-integration challenges in North Gondar Zone by Gebremariam etal. (2018) indicates that many returnees were faced starting from searching for or borrowing money from different sources. Betseha (2016), in his study, reported that the majority of Saudi returnees are not in the self-sufficient situation and currently facing several challenges relating to business sheds allocated, government bureaucracy, being organized into groups, and stringent requirements in vocational choice. Concerning this, as per the researcher’s knowledge and critical investigation of different works of literature, no study has been conducted in Ethiopia and the case study area (Gondar city) on the association between self-employment and return migrants in Ethiopia. To this end, against this background, this study aimed to examine the association between self-employment and return migrants in Ethiopia taking Gondar city as a case Page 4 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 study. This paper is unique in developing conceptual and theoretical arguments by examining the relationship between self-employment and return migrants in the context of Ethiopia, where youth migrants are large in number to fill the gap in the migration entrepreneurship literature in the global south countries. Most importantly, this paper tried to test the following two hypotheses using the chi-square test. As a result, based on a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on occupational and sectoral experiences in the labor process of international migration, and business formation, the researcher proposed a hypothesis to guide his analysis of the relationship between migration and business formation of return migrants. Hypothesis (H0): experiences gained informally on the job in Saudi Arabia and transferred to the Ethiopian labor market have no positive relationship with business formation following return to Ethiopia. Hypothesis (H1): experiences gained informally on the job in Saudi Arabia and transferred to the Ethiopian labor market have a positive relationship with business formation following return to Ethiopia. The rest of this paper is structured as follows. Section"Literature review" discusses the theoretical concepts of return migrants and empirical pieces of evidence, section"Materials and methods" presents the material and methods of the study, section"Results and discussion" presents results and discussion, and finally, section"Conclusion" presents the conclusion and practical implication of the study. Literature review Conceptual background It is relatively a recent concept and for that matter, it is a notion that lacks a commonly acknowledged meaning in national or international policy or law but it is yet a complex, dynamic and challenging segment of international migration. The terminological carelessness found in the relevant literature presents us with substantial difficulties in the study of return migration. Betseha (2016) in his doctoral dissertation defined return migration in different terminologies such as homeward migration, repatriation, remigration, reflux migration, and retro migration have been alternatively used to describe return migration. Bovenkerk (2012) in his book entitled sociology of return migration shows the difficulty of finding solid and universally accepted definitions and shows that one may come across return migration under the following titles: back migration, countercurrent, counter flow, re-emigration, reflux migration, emigration, return flow, return migration, return movement, second-time migration, and repatriation. Return migration has multidimensional issues which influence the policymakers to consider international relations, economic relations, cultural relations, human rights, and securities (Kaur, 2010). Return migrants can include a heterogeneous group of failed asylum seekers, migrants protected under temporary schemes, refugees after the termination of their asylum status, illegal immigrants, and migrants with an expired temporary permit, and legal migrants who demand to return to their country of origin (Betseha, 2016). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Article 14, states that: everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution and this declaration infers us that return is personal and a matter understood to be certain and voluntary as opposed to a challenge and negotiation for migrants (Mesnard, 2004). However, in reality, return is a result of different factors. Page 5 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 Accordingly to Wickramasekara (2019) return migrants are classified as the following. A. Voluntary without compulsion: a migrant decides at any time during his/her stay to return home at his/her own free will, initiative, and cost without the enforcement of international or national actors. B. Voluntary under compulsion (assisted voluntary return or enforced return): under this system, migrants are usually at the achievement of their work or study term abroad or are rejected for asylum, or unable to stay and thus choose to return at their wish. It also includes those refugees who had to leave their countries of origin because of conflict/crisis and who return in the post-conflict/crisis phase. C. Involuntary or forced return: under this structure, it is the authorities or actors hosting migrants that order their return. Migrants not allowed entry to the country of destination or whose stay is no longer authorized as well as unsuccessful asylum seekers that do not return voluntarily are prone to such kind of return scheme. As stated above, the voluntary return has some essence of free will and well-informed decision of the individual stayer which denotes that coercive measures rarely exist. On the contrary, forced return involves the enforced return of an individual to his/ her country of origin, based on an administrative or judicial act. Forced return is commonly known as deportation. In comparison with other types of involuntary returns, deportation is distinguished by its mandatory and state-sponsored character (Islam etal., 2019). Concerning this, the current returnees in Ethiopia have forced reruns mostly from Middle East countries particularly from Saudi Arabia. Theoretical review onself‑employment andreturn migration Currently and in the previous 2 and/or 3 years, Ethiopians have been experiencing an unprecedented level of return migration particularly from the Middle East countries (Wassink & Hagan, 2018). A large number of evidences revealed that in most countries in the world return migrants have been involved in high rates of self-employment. This in turn helps to the enhancement of finance and human capital that they have experienced abroad. Most commonly, self-employment and return migrants have a direct relationship that self-employment leads to a positive upward economic mobility among return migrants (Mahe, 2019; Tibajev, 2019; Wassink & Hagan, 2018). In the twenty-first century, return migration is an emerged issue that needs strong attention from policymakers and international organizations support. In line with this, different empirical migration works of literature consider the counter-effect of the reverse flow of return migrants and local economic development of sending countries particularly in the context of the global south region. A common finding of the migration literature is that migrants are more likely to choose self-employment upon return to their origin countries than non-migrants (Bensassi & Jabbour, 2017). This has led to the belief that return migration stimulates entrepreneurship in source countries and hence supports economic development. In this context, depending on the occupational outcome of the sending countries, there is a possibility that return migrants have been decided to migrate again after their return. In this case, Page 6 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 according to Piracha (2015) being unemployed may not be a choice, and the migrant might opt either to work in the informal sector or to migrate again. Another possibility is that the migrant did not achieve the savings target they initially set (for example, saving enough to start a business) and, therefore, decides on a further stint abroad. Several factors can affect the occupational choice of return migrants. These include the migrant’s occupational experience (including non-employment) before migrating, employment experience in the host country, savings accumulated while abroad, reasons for return, migration duration, time in the home country after return, and any future migration intentions. For instance, evidence from Kyrgyzstan shows that migrants’ self-employment experience before migration has a significant effect on the choice to become selfemployed after return (Brück etal., 2018). Migration experience and retained savings seem to be even more important than pre-migration experience, as demonstrated by cases in which migrants change their occupation after return, including choosing not to participate in the labor market. For example, 47% of Turkish migrants and 46% of Hungarian migrants did not participate in the labor market on their return home (Brück etal., 2018; Piracha, 2015; Wassink & Hagan, 2018). Empirical evidences onself‑employment andreturn migration Several previous studies conducted in developing countries on return migrants have been pinpointed that there is a high rate of self-employment among return migrants as compared to non-migrants (Wassink & Hagan, 2018). Moreover, some studies also stated that return migrants’ concentration in self-employment is a function of foreign savings and remittances that returnees use to fund new businesses (Kautto, 2019; Kone etal., 2021; Naudé etal., 2017). Foreign savings play a pivotal role for migrants when they are returning to economically dynamic communities with ample investment opportunities. Some studies argued that in developing countries the accessibility of credit to start a new business is very difficult which in turn encourages temporary migration as a means to acquire funds for small-scale investment (Brück etal., 2018). Recently, selfemployment among return migrants has been studied primarily through the context of labor migration. There is a large number of previous studies that investigate self-employment among return migrants in developing countries particularly in Latin America and African countries. Many of these studies tried to identify the potential causal effects of international migration experience on the probability of becoming self-employed upon return (Bensassi & Jabbour, 2017; Hagan & Wassink, 2017; Mahe, 2019; Xu, 2010). In general, these studies found that considering the potential of occupational choice to the decision to migrate, temporary international migration is positively associated with the probability of becoming self-employed after return to the sending countries. More specifically, Mahe (2019) conducted a study which focused on how working overseas influences the choice to be self-employed upon return revealed that transients are more likely to be self-employed on return than non-migrants. A return migrants census on Mexican with 150 close-ended and 30 open-ended questions by Hagan and Wassink (2017) which captured demographic data and complete migration and work histories, including skill acquisition and transfers from job to job across the migratory circuit and social contexts and learning processes of skill development, respectively, as a Page 7 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 factors of self-employment and business formation reveals that the proportion of business owners was higher among migrants than non-migrants. The relationship between skill transfer and business formation shows that a modest positive association owning a business with employees but failure to transfer skills was associated with lower odds of a business formation relative to non-migrants. A cross-sectional survey data from 12,060 households and 49,186 individuals in Egypt by Mahe (2019) taking occupational experiences and sectoral as the independent variables to analyze the relationship between return migration and self-employment suggested that self-employed who temporarily migrated have acquired substantially more occupational experience, and worked in more sectors than self-employed who have not migrated. These statistics support the idea that working abroad leads to the accumulation of a labor market experience different from the one obtained by staying home. He further argued that pairwise correlations suggest a positive, statistically significant relationship between self-employment, return migration, and occupations. In addition, the linear correlation of his result between self-employment and sectors, positive and significant, is much weaker. On the other hand, the process of lifelong human capital development across the migratory path is essential to business formation among return migrants (Hagan & Wassink, 2017). Results by Tibajev (2019); and Wassink and Hagan (2018) suggest that migration could contribute to the formation of entrepreneurial abilities by building skills through varied occupations and industrial sectors. And also, on average, having migrated temporarily significantly increases the probability of self-employment upon return, in a unit increase in occupational and sectoral experience. He further suggests that occupation and sectoral-specific experience resulting from working abroad affects the choice to be self-employed, beyond wage employment, by developing skillset balance and shows that temporary overseas labor experience raises the propensity of upward occupational mobility for highly skilled returnees. Chen et al. (2019) conducted a study using cross-sectional data from Pakistan, explores the determinants of occupational choice by taking the independent variables of savings and paid work or self-employed. The results revealed that experience with self-employment and, savings upon return become a significant factor in the choice of self-employment over waged employment among return migrants in Pakistan but retirements from the domestic labor market are not a reason for opting for self-employment. A study by Piracha (2015) on Albania returnees based on the data Albanian Living Standard Measurement Survey in the year 2005, to know the factors which influence occupational choice after return shows that migration experience retained savings and spending a long time in the destination country seem to be even more important than pre-migration experience. And then, as demonstrated by cases in which migrants change their occupation after return including choosing not to participate in the labor market. The results revealed the level of human capital also strongly affects the occupational choice of return migrants. In addition, the result suggests that the occupational choice of migrants when they return is influenced, among other factors, by the form of migration (long-term, temporary, or circular); the duration of migration; and the reason for return and all have a positive relationship with self-employment than wage employment (Piracha, 2015). Page 8 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 Materials andmethods Study area Gondar is one of the emerging and rapidly urbanized city of Ethiopia. The city has been divided into six administrative sub-cities, namely, Maraki, Azezo tseda, Arada, Jantekel, Zoble, and Fasil. Unemployment in the city remains high especially amongst the youth, including those with a university degree and migrants who returned from abroad (Tegenu etal., 2021). Informal sector employment is still dominant reflecting serious shortcomings of the labor market to provide formal employment. In the city, Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) have significantly reduced the unemployment rate with a significant impact on poverty alleviation. The city’s market for the products and services of MSEs is mainly dependent on government projects, such as condominiums, cobblestone roads, and university buildings construction. However, the transition of MSEs to medium and large enterprises is very low (Getaneh, 2020). The surrounding areas such as Metema and Humera, produce cotton and sesame, creating employment for thousands of inhabitants and generating foreign currency through market-oriented cash-crop production. Most of Gondar’s economic activities relate to trade and commerce, while, as the capital of the central Gondar Zone, public administration is also one of its core activities. The government is the main employer of the city’s mainly young population, while many generate income in the informal sector. Besides unemployed graduates, illegal temporary migration is one of the threats in Gondar city due to the reason that being the hot spots of the country’s route of migration via Ethio-Sudan borders of Metema and Humera and accompanied it as the home of returnees (Gebremariam etal., 2018). In these urban areas, the high unemployment rates lead to a perpetuated dream of global migration. One of the largest current global migration flows is Ethiopian women traveling to the Middle East as domestic workers, which also often occurs through trafficking by brokers who connect to people through facilitations Bigsten etal. (2013) which has also been observed in Gondar city. Now, illegal temporary migration is a worldwide phenomenon that is rising in scope, complexity, and impact. It is a threat to Ethiopia in general and Gondar city in particular as being one of the hot spots of the country’s rout of migration via Ethio-Sudan that youths are migrating in the way Ethio-Sudan through Yemen to Saudi Arabia (Gebremariam etal., 2018). There was a fairly equitable distribution of male and female return migrants at 55.33% of returnees in the city from the Middle East (Kuschminder, 2014). Informal sector employment in the Amhara Region accounts for 21.5% of the country with females are higher than males (CSA, 2020). Research design anddata source The study used a quantitative research approach. The research questions and objective of the study would be best answered through the appropriate research design. The study was intended to use a combination of cross-sectional and descriptive research design to investigate the relationship between self-employment and return migrants. These designs allowed a researcher to make observations or collect huge Page 15 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 well as produced adjusted standardized residuals that is used when the chi-square test for association is statistically significant. Since this study have two variables that each have four categories as we can see from Table3 (i.e., a 4 × 4 cross tabulation), there are 12 cells in our design that we should evaluate to interpret the data (i.e., 4 × 3 = 12). In this context, there are at least four procedures available to investigate further a statistically significant omnibus chi-square test result. For the purpose of this study the two procedures were discussed. In this regard, the first and easiest of the four procedures is calculating residuals. A residual analysis identifies those specific cells making the greatest contribution to the chi-square test result. A second procedure, comparing cells, evaluates whether specific cells differ from each other. Calculating residuals and comparing cells work for both χ2 tests of goodness of fit and independence. Accordingly, (Sharpe, 2015) recommends a researcher identify those cells with the largest residuals. A residual is the difference between the observed and expected values for a cell. The larger the residual, the greater the contribution of the cell to the magnitude of the resulting chi-square obtained value. As he further stated “a cell-by-cell comparison of observed and estimated expected frequencies helps us to better understand the nature of the evidence” and cells with large residuals “show a greater discrepancy… than we would expect if the variables were truly independent”. In this regard, as it indicated in Table3, three cells were associated with adjusted residuals greater than ± 2. Thus, the three cells were the product of self-employed or without work by only one occupational job and the product of self-employed by four and above occupational jobs. One cell associated with self-employed had positive adjusted residual values, indicating that there were more returnees in the self-employed condition for only one occupational job than would be expected by chance. Conversely, the one cell associated with without work had negative adjusted residual values, indicating that there were fewer returnees in without work condition for four and above occupational jobs than would be expected by chance. This indicated that the product of self-employed or without work by only one occupational job and the product of self-employed by four and above occupational jobs were considered contributed to the χ2 values. A second procedure compares specific cells for a statistically significant difference. Comparing cells is an approach that works for χ2 tests of goodness of fit and independence, and the approach can be conceptualized as a priori or post-hoc depending on whether or not it is preceded by an omnibus χ2 test. In this procedure, subscript letters of cells have used to compare percentage proportions of cells. In this sense, each subscript letter denotes the current occupational status of returnee’s categories whose column proportions do not differ significantly from each other at the 0.05 level if they have the same subscript. However, the proportions within row one on cross tabulation (contingency) Table3 have not the same subscript which reveals the proportion of only one occupational job has significant differences for the current occupational status of returnees at the 0.05 level and others have not. This indicated that the different subscripts tell us that column proportions in percentage values are not significantly different (Rana & Singhal, 2015). When reading Table4, we are interested in the results of the "Pearson Chi-Square" row. We can see that χ2 = 9.560, p = 0.144 which is greater than 0.05 at 5% level of significance Page 16 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 (p > α). This tells us that there is no statistically significant association between occupational experiences and occupational status of returnees; that is, returnees who acquired occupational experience abroad does not support to their current occupational status in their home country. Therefore, based on this, the null hypotheses “Experiences gained informally on the job in Saudi Arabia and transferred to the Ethiopian labor market have no positive relationship with business formation following return to Ethiopia” was failed to reject. It was found that occupational experiences gained from abroad was not a significant predictor variable of the current occupational status of returnees. In contrast with the study, by Hagan and Wassink (2017) and Mahe (2019) revealed that work experience strengthened the association between skill transfer and business formation, suggesting the successful formation of new businesses among returnees is the strategic combination of multiple informally acquired skills and techniques brought from abroad. However, most Ethiopian migrants who migrate to Saudi Arabia are homeworkers and with no opportunity to varied skills, have no significant association with the new business formation. However, the finding of Luchyk (2017) is agreed with this result that considering the tough working conditions abroad for return migrants including long hours, the existence of the second job; returnees have poor abilities to be involved in self-employment activities as it needs significant work and commitment after a return. On the other side, this result is inconsistent with the findings of Tibajev (2019) and Xu (2010) who argued that return migrants’ occupational experience has been associated with their occupational status after their return to their sending countries. Phi and Cramer’s V are a measure that provides an estimate of the strength of the association between independent and dependent variables and their coefficient values can be found in the Symmetric Measures of Table5, as highlighted below. As it indicated in Table5 that the Phi is 0.221 and Cramer’s V is 0.157 values, respectively. Phi and Cramer’s V are a measure of the strength of association of a nominal by nominal relationship. Thus, to explain the level of association, Cohen in his early studies (Cohen, 1988) cited in (Sharpe, 2015) suggested the following guidelines for interpreting Table 4 Chi-square test Source survey result, 2021 Value df Asymp. Sig. (two‑sided) Pearson chi-square 9.560a 6 0.144 Likelihood ratio 9.617 6 0.142 Linear-by-linear association 6.694 1 0.010 No. of valid cases 195 Table 5 Symmetric measures Source field survey result, 2021 Value Approx. Sig Nominal by nominal Phi 0.221 Cramer’s V 0.157 No. of valid cases 195 Page 17 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 Phi and Cramer’s V coefficients. In this regard, the intensity of association based on the two values categorized as less than 0.1 value is weak, 0.1–0.3 value is low, 0.3–0.5 value is moderate, 0.5–0.7 value is strong and above 0.7 value is very strong. Hence, based on Phi and Cramer’s V values in Table5, the intensity of association is weak. It proved that the association between dependent and independent variables are not statistically significant. Association results anddiscussion betweensectoral experiences andcurrent occupational status ofreturnees As it is discussed in the previous section, similar procedure was applied to analyzed chi-square test for association; moreover, we generated the tests for the strength of association, as well as produced adjusted standardized residuals that is used when the chi-square test for association is statistically significant. Table 6 Number of sectors returnees worked in while abroad by current occupational status of returnees Source field survey result, 2021 Current occupational status of returnees Total Self‑employed Without work Informal sector Number of sectors returnees worked in while abroad Only one sectoral job Count 16a 17a 8a 41 Expected Count 12.2 23.8 5.0 41.0 % within Number of sectors returnees worked in while abroad 27.6% 15.1% 33.4% 21.0% Adjusted Residual 1.5 − 2.4 1.6 Two sectoral jobs Count 17a 25a 5a 47 Expected Count 14.0 27.2 5.8 47.0 % within Number of sectors returnees worked in while abroad 29.3% 22.1% 20.8% 24.1% Adjusted Residual 1.1 − 0.8 − 0.4 Three sectoral jobs Count 13a 32a 6a 51 Expected Count 15.2 29.6 6.3 51.0 % within Number of sectors returnees worked in while abroad 22.4% 28.3% 25.0% 26.1% Adjusted Residual − 0.8 0.8 − 0.1 Four and above sectoral jobs Count 12a 39a 5a 56 Expected Count 16.7 32.5 6.9 56.0 % within Number of sectors returnees worked in while abroad 20.7% 34.5% 20.8% 28.7% Adjusted Residual − 1.6 2.1 − 0.9 Total Count 58 113 24 195 Expected Count 58.0 113.0 24.0 195.0 % within number of sectors returnees worked in while abroad 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Page 18 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 Since this study have two variables that each have four and three categories as we can see from Table6 (i.e., a 4 × 3 cross tabulation), there are 12 cells in our design that we should evaluate to interpret the data (i.e., 4 × 3 = 12). In this context, there are at least four procedures available to investigate further a statistically significant omnibus chisquare test result. For the purpose of this study the two procedures were discussed. In this regard, the first and easiest of the four procedures is calculating residuals. A residual analysis identifies those specific cells making the greatest contribution to the chi-square test result. A second procedure, comparing cells, evaluates whether specific cells differ from each other. Calculating residuals and comparing cells work for both chi-square tests of goodness of fit and independence. Accordingly, Sharpe (2015) recommends a researcher identify those cells with the largest residuals. A residual is the difference between the observed and expected values for a cell. The larger the residual, the greater the contribution of the cell to the magnitude of the resulting chi-square obtained value. As he further stated “a cell-by-cell comparison of observed and estimated expected frequencies helps us to better understand the nature of the evidence” and cells with large residuals “show a greater discrepancy…than we would expect if the variables were truly independent”. In this regard, as it indicated in Table6, two cells were associated with adjusted residuals greater than ± 2. Thus, the two cells were the product of without work by only one occupational job and four and above occupational jobs. One cell associated with without work had positive adjusted residual values, indicating that there were more returnees in without work condition for four and above occupational jobs than would be expected by chance. Conversely, the one cell associated with without work had negative adjusted residual values, indicating that there were fewer returnees in without work condition for only one occupational job than would be expected by chance. This indicated that the product of without work by only one occupational job and four and above occupational jobs were considered contributed to the chi-square values. A second procedure compares specific cells for a statistically significant difference. Comparing cells is an approach that works for chi-square tests of goodness of fit and independence, and the approach can be conceptualized as a priori or post-hoc depending on whether or not it is preceded by an omnibus chi-square test. In this procedure, subscript letters of cells have used to compare percentage proportions of cells. In this sense, subscript letter denotes that current occupational status of returnee’s categories whose relative proportions do not differ significantly from each other at the 0.05 level if they have the same subscript. With this regard, the relative proportions within each cell on the contingency Table6 has the same subscript which reveals that all cells do Table 7 Chi-square tests Source Field survey result, 2021 Value df Asymp. Sig. (two‑sided) Pearson Chi-square 9.449a 6 0.150 Likelihood ratio 9.387 6 0.153 Linear-by-linear Association 0.728 1 0.394 No. of Valid Cases 195 Page 19 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 not differ significantly from each other at the 0.05 level. This proved that different subscripts tell us about column proportions in percentage values are not significantly different (Pandis, 2016). As it indicated in Table7, we are interested in the results of the "Pearson Chi-Square" row. We can see that X2(6) = 9.449, p = 0.150 which is greater than 0.05 at 5% level of significance (p > α). This tells us that there is no statistically significant association between sectoral experiences and occupational status of returnees; that is, returnees who acquired sectoral experience abroad does not support to their current occupational status in their home country. Therefore, based on this, the null hypotheses “Experiences gained informally on the job in Saudi Arabia and transferred to the Ethiopian labor market have no positive relationship with business formation following return to Ethiopia” was failed to reject. It was found that sectoral experiences gained from abroad was not a significant predictor variable of the current occupational status of returnees. It proved that return migrant’s abroad experience could not valuable to become self-employed in their home country. This result is inconsistent with the finding of Mahe (2019) that the returnees having many sectoral experiences abroad temporarily significantly increases the probability of self-employment upon return with a unit increase in sectoral experiences. Similarly, the current result is not similar to the findings of Bensassi and Jabbour (2017), Mahuteau and Tani (2011), and Tibajev (2019). In the same vein, Phi and Cramer’s V are a measure that provides an estimate of the strength of the association between independent and dependent variables and their values can be found in the Symmetric Measures of Table8, as highlighted below. As it indicated in Table8 that the Phi is 0.220 and Cramer’s V is 0.156 values, respectively. Phi and Cramer’s V are a measure of the strength of association of a nominal by nominal relationship. Thus, to explain the level of association, Cohen in his early studies (Cohen, 1988) cited in (Sharpe, 2015) suggested the following guidelines for interpreting Phi and Cramer’s V coefficients. In this regard, the intensity of association based on the two values categorized as less than 0.1 value is weak, 0.1–0.3 value is low, 0.3–0.5 value is moderate, 0.5–0.7 value is strong and above 0.7 value is very strong. Hence, based on Phi and Cramer’s V values in Table8, the intensity of association is weak. It proved that the association between dependent and independent variables are not statistically significant. Conclusion Return migration is one of the emerged issues of this contemporary world that needs strong emphasis by international and national organizations to understand its implication on the economy of host and sending communities (Bachtiar & Prasetyo, 2017; Table 8 Symmetric measures Source Field Survey Result, 2021 Value Approx. Sig Nominal by nominal Phi 0.220 Cramer’s V 0.156 No. of valid cases 195 Page 20 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 Wassink & Hagan, 2018). In this regard, this study attempted to contribute to the existing literature on return migration by framing the discussion within the association between self-employment and returning migrants in the context of Ethiopia particularly on Gondar city youth returnees. This is important, because an analysis of the dynamics of the association between returning migrants and self-employment is a crucial step toward enhancing our understanding of the processes in developing countries particularly in the sub-Saharan African countries associated with their socioeconomic reintegration after arrival in home countries. To this end, the study tried to associate self-employment and return migrants by considering sectoral and occupational experiences as an indicator. Consequently, the result revealed that there is no association between self-employment and return migrants in the context of Ethiopia particularly in Gondar city. More importantly, the study was found that sectoral and occupational experience gained from abroad do not help return migrants for new business formation. This result suggests, even though returnees have work experiences, they did not use it. Because experiences need commitment and a favorable business environment to apply these experiences on business activities. Unfortunately, this study in the context of Ethiopia is not consistent with other previous studies conducted in most developing countries particularly in Africa and Latina America (Bensassi & Jabbour, 2017; Black & Castaldo, 2009; Brück etal., 2018; Giambra & Mckenzie, 2019; Mahe, 2019; Tibajev, 2019; Wassink & Hagan, 2018). In general, when tried to associate between self-employment and return migrants in terms of occupational and sectoral experiences in the home country (Ethiopia), this study failed to find any evidence on the association between self-employment and returnees in terms of occupational and sectoral experiences, as has been found in the above mentioned previous studies. Policy implication andrecommendation Supporting return migrants once they are back to increase their businesses might also be an opportunity insuring that migrants return with the necessary skills and capital will bring economic development if we utilize it properly. However, in this study returnee’s experience is not being considered while supporting to create their business. Thus, policymakers need to consider self-employment carefully to support returnees’ sustainable entrepreneurial performance and economic growth. This is specifically relevant in Ethiopia, where self-employment will become a greater part of the labor market. This indicated that policymakers should confront some of the many challenges that self-employed returnees have been faced, including the provision of the working area, formal credit, and training consistent with the experience brought from abroad, and tax incentives to enhance the positive effects on labor market performance due to accumulated human capital and savings. Hence, most of the migrants in this study are women, and the labor law is applied for the entire labor force, it did not consider vulnerable women, so that it has to provide some specific arrangements for vulnerable women like improved working conditions for women. Areas offuture research Since this research was conducted in Gondar city, it is micro-level research. Thus, further research is needed to fully understand the situation of self-employment and Page 21 of 22 Alene Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2023) 12:28 business ownership of return migration at a macro level to adjust employment and entrepreneurship policies. An extension of this study could be conducted on the role of the local economy on returnees’ entrepreneurial business performance. Abbreviations IMO International Migration Organization MSEs Micro and Small Enterprises Acknowledgements I would like to thank the research participants who are lived in Gondar city for their willingness to give information to the research question. I like to acknowledge Amelework for her language editorial works and her genuine comments and corrections which help the paper to be in its present form. Author contributions The author, ET, personally undertook this study. The author also read and approved the final manuscript. Funding This study was conducted by the Author finance only. There is no financial support from any organization. Availability of data andmaterials The data is included in the manuscript. Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable since this research did not involve human subjects. Consent for publication I have agreed to submit for the Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and approved the manuscript for submission. Competing interests The author declares that there are no competing interests. Received: 18 October 2021 Accepted: 24 March 2023 References Bachtiar, P. P., & Prasetyo, D. D. (2017). Return migration and various reintegration programs for low-skilled migrant workers in Indonesia. Barrett, A., & Goggin, J. (2010). Returning to the question of a wage premium for returning migrants (Issue 4736). Batista, C., McIndoe-Calder, T., & Vicente, P. C. (2014). Return migration, self-selection and entrepreneurship in Mozambique (Issue 8195). Bensassi, S., & Jabbour, L. (2017). 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