Labour Market Integration and Public Perceptions of Immigrants: A Comparison between Germany and Spain During the Economic Crisis

Abstract

Since the start of the global economic downturn, Germany and Spain have experienced highly-divergent impacts of the crisis on the labour market in general and on immigrant workers in particular. This can be mainly explained by looking at the economic growth patterns prior to the crisis. Spain's higher, more la- bour-intensive growth was enabled by growth in the labour supply that was fuelled by immigration and fostered by a de facto permissive immigration policy, while re- strictive migration policy prevented growth in labour supply in Germany and en- couraged more capital-intensive growth in which both Germans with a low level of skills, and immigrants in particular, found it diffi cult to integrate. We therefore argue that institutional features of the labour market promoted these patterns. The high level of importance of the temporary and informal labour market segments in Spain which were hit hardest by the crisis placed immigrant workers and young workers in a vulnerable position. The economic crisis has made parts of the population more sceptical about im- migration in both countries. However, there appear to be no links between the se- verity of the crisis and public debates on migration. Although Spain was defi nitely hit harder by the crisis than Germany, and immigrants were affected more severely, public debates on migration and integration issues seem to be at least as fi erce in Germany as in Spain. The legacy of past migrations and migration policies exerts a more signifi cant infl uence on the public perception of migration as a risk than eco- nomic factors do.