Population aging and individual attitudes toward immigration: disentangling age, cohort and time effects
In the face of rising old-age dependency ratios in industrialised countries, the loosening of immigration policies is discussed as an option to ensure sustainability of public social security systems. However, the feasibility of this option in aging countries is doubtable; older individuals are thought to be more averse to immigration. This paper studies the effect of individual age on immigration attitudes, using data from Germany and focusing particularly on attitudes of old people.
The author indicates that immigrants who do not find employment are a fiscal burden on the welfare state and thus for natives of all ages. Nevertheless, immigration attitudes are shaped by non-economic as well as economic motives, and it is likely that these non-economic effects vary by age.
Main findings include:
- the predicted age profile of stated immigration concerns and of the difference between immigration and other concerns is non-linear
- over the life cycle, individuals are predicted to state the highest concerns in their seventies
- nonetheless, relative to other issues, immigration causes most concerns at young ages
- at the same time, older cohorts are predicted to be more concerned about immigration than about other issues
- the effect of birth year on stated immigration concerns is not consistent over different specifications
- survey year also turns out to significantly influence immigration attitudes with stated immigration concerns highest when unemployment is high
