Are Migrants Overrepresented Among Individual Welfare Beneficiaries?

Abstract

AbstractThe 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 considered – especially in the case of non‐EU migrants.