Are Migrants Overrepresented Among Individual Welfare Beneficiaries?

Abstract

The level of immigrant welfare dependency is the subject of heated debate in the majority of developed countries, which have experienced a significant increase in immigration in recent years. In both Europe and the US, the problem of potential excessive use of social transfers is beginning to bring real policy consequences. This article addresses this issue by presenting a quantitative assessment of welfare receipt in 17 European countries, as well as Yun decomposition of its differences between natives and immigrants. It adds to existing literature by comparing the levels of welfare dependence among EU and non-EU migrants for individual benefits including and excluding pensions, using recent data from EU-SILC. Results suggest that immigrants rely on welfare less often than natives, and receive lower benefits when they do. Those conclusions are reversed, however, when old-age benefits are not consideredespecially in the case of non-EU migrants.

How immigration affects the welfare state in the short and long run: Differences between social spending and policy generosity

“…In line with these findings, several studies find empirical evidence that in Europe, welfare dependence is higher among immigrants than among natives (Hansen & Lofstrom, 2003;Huber & Oberdabernig, 2016;Jakubiak, 2020;Pedersen, 2000). Using the European Community Household Panel, Brücker et al (2001) find that in a number of European countries 6 , migrants are more dependent upon unemployment benefits than natives, even when controlling for observable characteristics like education and work experience.…”

Migrants and social policy: shifting research agendas

“…Concerns about migrants' welfare usage are therefore widespread. Research has extensively studied the extent to which migrants make more use of welfare resources than natives (Brücker et al, 2002;Bruckmeier & Wiemers, 2017;Kornstad & Skjerpen, 2018;Roman, 2019;Yilmaz, 2019;Jakubiak, 2020).…”

“…A related question in social policy debates concerns whether migrants make more use of the welfare state than natives do. Indeed, in most European countries, the share of migrants receiving unemployment benefits and social assistance is significantly higher than among the native population (Brücker et al, 2002;Jakubiak, 2020). Research conducted in the 1990s and early 2000s explained this ethnic gap mainly with ethnic variation in human capital.…”

“…Moreover, the ethnic gap in welfare take-up increased significantly in the early 1990s when several European countries received a significant share of refugees (Riphahn, 1998;Fertig & Schmidt, 2001). However, when looking only at households that are eligible for welfare benefits, the pattern changes: in certain countries such as the UK, Australia, Spain, and most notably in Cyprus, migrants display significantly lower welfare dependency than natives (Giulietti, 2014;Jakubiak, 2020). The literature therefore also speaks of non-take-up of welfare benefits (Bruckmeier & Wiemers, 2017;Dewanckel et al, 2021;Lucas et al, 2021).…”

The dark side of onward migration: Experiences and strategies of Italian‐Bangladeshis in the UK at the time of the post‐Brexit referendum

“…Even the settlement status scheme allows them the opportunity to maintain all their existing welfare rights in the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, studies show that EU immigrants are less likely to claim welfare benefits than the natives (Jakubiak, 2020; Wadsworth et al., 2016). However, Italian‐Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom has to rely on welfare benefits to survive economically (Oliver, 2019), since they only have part‐time jobs.…”