The limits of skill-selective immigration policies: Welfare states and the commodification of labour immigrants

Abstract

Why do some countries have more skill-selective labour immigration policies than others? Despite general agreement that high-skilled immigrants are economically and socially desirable, some countries extensively select high-skilled from low-skilled labour immigrants, while others do not. While most political economy accounts indicate an explicit connection between relative skill selectivity and welfare states, two different hypotheses emerge regarding the direction of this relationship. The fiscal cost hypothesis puts forward that the tension between welfare state generosity and immigration motivates greater selectivity as states try to reconcile fiscal pressures for closure with continuing needs for immigration. The decommodification hypothesis, in contrast, holds that the capabilities of generous welfare states to decommodify their citizens also decrease rationales to be more skill-selective towards labour immigrants. Developing an original measure of skill selectivity in labour immigration policies for 20 developed democracies from 2000 to 2010, we test these two hypotheses. Our results indicate that differences in decommodification levels appear to be substantively and negatively associated with differences in skill selectivity levels, while changes in welfare spending over time, particularly among high-spending countries, rather than differences in spending levels, seem to be positively associated with increasing skill selectivity. This suggests potential tensions between the political responses to economic and demographic changes in the form of immigration policy adjustments and the underlying social logic of modern welfare states. The findings contribute not only to the study of high-skilled immigration, but also advance the current research on the tension between immigration and the welfare state.

How climate change leads to emigration: Conditional and long‐run effects

“…At the same time, however, OECD economies tend to prefer high‐ over low‐skilled migrants. Since the 1970s, many Western states have implemented policies to attract high‐skilled professionals and deter low‐skilled migrants (e.g., Cerna, 2014; Kolbe & Kayran, 2019). Such policies are motivated by concerns over labor market and wage competition between immigrants and natives in low‐wage sectors.…”

“…2 For this analysis, we instead propose to study how education leads to different migratory responses to climate change, given that it has been shown that skill levels play an important role in understanding migration motivation (e.g., Docquier & Rapoport, 2012). 3 At the same time, skill composition of migration flows has great relevance for labor markets and immigration policies in receiving OECD countries (e.g., Cerna, 2014;Kolbe & Kayran, 2019). So far, only Drabo and Mbaye (2015) investigate how climate variables interact with emigration in a cross-country setting.…”

Labour market institutions and immigration policy attitudes: The moderated impact of economic vulnerability

“…And yet, precisely because of this inclusiveness and expansiveness, more generous unemployment compensation systems may not alleviate but amplify the preferential divides between workers based on their exposure to job loss risks. Because more generous unemployment compensation schemes are associated with less social categorisation and stratification in societies (Esping‐Andersen, 1990), more inclusive institutions that treat citizens equally seem to be constrained in how restrictively and selectively states can treat foreigners (Kolbe & Kayran, 2019). Indeed, there is evidence showing that egalitarianism and broader access to compensation for citizens positively correlate with more inclusive social rights for foreigners (Römer, 2017; Sainsbury, 2006).…”

Numbers, Selectivity, and Rights: The Conditional Nature of Immigration Policy Preferences

“…Education is often considered an important "economic" selection criterion for migrants. Migrants with higher levels of formal education are generally considered more beneficial for the host country economy while migrants without formal educational qualifications are seen as potential economic burdens (Cerna, 2014; Kolbe & Kayran, 2019). Nationality is a common measure of cultural compatibility.…”