Does Labor Protection Increase Support for Immigration? Evidence from Switzerland

Author(s) : Teodora Tsankova, Mirjam Bächli

Source : https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/260195/

Source : https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/tntsankova/ttsankova_jmp.pdf

Abstract:

“What drives native support for immigration? At a time of rising anti-migrant sentiments, this is a question raised by both academics and policy makers. We study the importance of labor market concerns and the role of labor protection in shaping native preferences over migration policies. We look at the Swiss context and focus on the period from 2000 to 2014. Our results show that a higher migrant exposure reduces pro-immigrant vote shares in municipalities with a relatively low-skilled native population. The negative response is mitigated under higher levels of labor market protection as measured by collective bargaining coverage. Foreigners are overrepresented among low-skilled workers and collective agreements are most relevant for natives in this skill group. Therefore, the evidence is consistent with labor market concerns determining support for immigration. Indeed, we find that immigration reduces wages of low-skilled natives, but this effect is weaker under higher collective bargaining coverage. We contribute to the literature by showing that labor protection shapes how native preferences over migration policies and native labor market outcomes respond to immigration.”