Opposing low-skilled immigrants: Labor market competition, welfare state and deservingness

This paper proposes to investigate why people prefer high- over low-skilled migrants. According to the labor market competition, the welfare state and the deservingness models low-skilled migrants might be opposed because they are perceived as competitors for low-skilled natives on the job market, because their use of public services is disproportionally higher than their contribution to tax revenues and because they are considered as lazy people who would be as well off as natives if they only tried harder. To test these arguments an experimental online survey has been conducted in Switzerland that randomly assigned respondents to evaluate low- and high-skilled immigrants. We find that the labor market competition model only holds for low-skilled natives and is strengthened when they fear a worsening of their economic situation. The welfare state model only holds for rich natives in regions with low taxes or low welfare expenditures. Finally, attitudes on deservingness explain negative attitudes towards low-skilled immigrants if the respondents are rich. It appears that different groups oppose low-skilled immigrants for different reasons.