Abstract

Immigrants’ precarious labour market situation has received attention from academic scholars and policy makers alike. As a consequence of their weak labour market attachment, immigrants are more likely to be dependent on public transfers in order to be able to achieve a decent standard of living. This dependency on transfers has also raised concern amongst policy makers, who increasingly started promoting policy measures to push immigrants into the labour market. These policies are often accompanied by a lowering of certain benefits, aimed at increasing the incentives to work. This article addresses immigrants’ and ethnic minorities’ labour market and income situation in three countries: Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. These countries are characterized by different welfare and labour market institutions; a comparative approach allows to see whether there are important differences between the countries. The results show a considerable employment gap between immigrants and non-immigrants in all three countries. Results of the logistic regression indicate that having an immigrant background decreases the probability of being employed. None of the welfare regimes is successful in offering immigrants equal labour market opportunities compared to natives. The same holds for poverty, migrants face a bigger risk to be poor than natives.

How to Cite:

Morissens, A., (2007) “Socio-economische uitkomsten voor migranten in verschillende welvaartsregimes”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 28(3-4), 423–455. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86691