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5 - Economic consequences of immigration in Europe
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- By Herbert Brücker, Head, Department of European Integration and Comparative Analysis, Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany; Research Fellow IZA, Bonn, Germany, Joachim R. Frick, Deputy Head, German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP); Senior Research Associate, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Germany; Research Fellow IZA, Bonn, Germany, Gert G. Wagner, Professor of Economics, Berlin University of Technology (TUB); Head, German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP); Research Director German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Germany
- Edited by Craig A. Parsons, University of Oregon, Timothy M. Smeeding, Syracuse University, New York
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- Book:
- Immigration and the Transformation of Europe
- Published online:
- 23 June 2009
- Print publication:
- 31 August 2006, pp 111-146
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Summary
Introduction
The migration policies of the European Union (EU) and the other Member States of the European Economic Area (EEA) are characterized by a two-fold approach. On the one hand, the free movement of labor has been defined since the Treaty of Rome (which established the EU in the 1950s) as one of the fundamental freedoms of the Common Market and has been subsequently implemented by the supranational legislation of the European Community. This integrative approach distinguishes the EU and the EEA from other regional trade agreements in the world such as NAFTA. On the other hand, the individual Member States of the EU and the EEA decide on immigration policies vis-à-vis third-country nationals. Most Member States have pursued a restrictive migration policy since the first oil-price shock in 1973. Aggregate migration figures reflect this restrictive approach: although the income gap on the European continent and between Europe and its neighboring regions resembles that between North and South America (Brücker 2002), annual net immigration rates in the EU and the EEA have only been half those of the United States and Canada (2.2 persons per thousand versus 4.4 per thousand) during the 1990s and early 2000s.
The restrictive immigration policies of the EU and the EEA vis-à-vis third countries face three main challenges today.
Income mobility in old age in Britain and Germany
- ASGHAR ZAIDI, JOACHIM R. FRICK, FELIX BÜCHEL
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- Journal:
- Ageing & Society / Volume 25 / Issue 4 / July 2005
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 30 June 2005, pp. 543-565
- Print publication:
- July 2005
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The increases in human longevity and early retirement in recent decades have posed new challenges for policy makers, and require a comprehensive understanding of the processes that influence the economic resources of older people. This paper examines the income mobility experienced by older people living in Britain and Germany during the 1990s, and identifies the influential personal attributes and lifecourse events. The analysis uses British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) panel data. The comparative perspective yields insights about the different income experiences of older people in the two markedly different welfare regimes. It is found that old-age income mobility has been more pronounced in Britain than in Germany, and that in both countries its occurrence was strongly associated with changes in living arrangements, with the employment status of co-residents, and with widowhood among women. Unemployment during working life associated significantly with negative late-life income mobility. Among those on low incomes, a high share of income from an earnings-related pension had a significant and positive effect in both countries. To reduce downward income mobility in old age, particularly among widows, there is a need to strengthen the social safety-net. Policies are required to encourage flexible living arrangements in old age, as well as to give greater protection in later life from unemployment during working life, especially in Germany.
eleven - Living conditions of immigrant children in Germany
- Edited by Koen Vleminckx, Timothy M. Smeeding
- Robert O. Rowlands
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- Book:
- Child well-being child poverty and child policy
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 23 February 2001, pp 275-298
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Summary
Introduction
In 1995, the proportion of foreign-born persons in Gemany was about 9% of the entire population1; in West Germany, where more or less all the immigrants are living, the proportion of foreign born is about 12%. As a result of this, the number of children born to immigrants is of a significant magnitude, especially since the fertility rate among immigrant women is higher than that among native German women (cf Deutscher Bundestag, 1998a, p 55ff). But, despite an ongoing influx of immigrants, Germany does not consider itself an ‘immigrant society’.
Due to the specific German regulations on granting citizenship, children born to foreign immigrants in Germany are considered as ‘immigrant children’ regardless of their respective place of birth (abroad or within Germany after their parents immigrated). In contrast to countries like the United States, where citizenship is granted to people born within the US (ius solis), children born in Germany do not automatically receive German citizenship. Instead they receive the nationality of their parents (ius sanguinis).
The most relevant immigrant groups in Germany are made up of migrant workers from Mediterranean countries who came during the period from the 1960s to the early 1970s (so-called guestworkers) and of immigrants from Eastern Europe since the fall of the Berlin wall in October 1989, especially ‘Ethnic Germans’ (Aussiedler). As a result of the specific German concept of ethnicity and citizenship, it is worthwhile differentiating immigrant children. Figure 11.1 shows our concept of ‘immigration status’ based on the combination of citizenship and country of birth of children and their parents.
The aim of this chapter is to describe and analyse short and long-term prospects for children in Germany. The Kinder-und Jugendbericht (child and youth report) for 1998 shows clear signs of a worsening economic situation for children in Germany. Unfortunately, this official report fails to provide sufficient information on immigrant children. The proportion of children living in households receiving welfare increased to about 7% in 1997, about twice that for the entire population. The report also states that the positive correlation of child poverty with (future) malnutrition, drug abuse, crime intensity and so on, requires an improvement and a targeting of social policy.
six - The impact of poverty on children’s school attendance – evidence from West Germany
- Edited by Koen Vleminckx, Timothy M. Smeeding
- Robert O. Rowlands
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- Book:
- Child well-being child poverty and child policy
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 23 February 2001, pp 151-174
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Summary
Introduction: childhood poverty and school attendance
Over the last decades most Western industrialised countries have experienced a considerable change concerning the economic situation and relative income position of the old and the young. While the situation of older people significantly improved in quite a few of those countries, the well-being of children appears to have got worse (Cornia, 1997; Habich and Krause, 1997; Burniaux et al, 1998; Bradbury and Jäntti, 1999; Bradshaw, 1999). On the other hand, educational opportunities for children in general have improved in most OECD countries (OECD, 1998). This leads to the expectation of increasing differences in educational prospects. The question of whether income inequality and poverty do affect educational attainment remains therefore a most crucial one in educational research.
Attending school is important for two reasons. First and most obviously, school helps children to acquire learning skills and information on a wide range of subjects. Second, and in many ways just as important, formal schooling provides the forum through which children develop social skills, learning to be independent and to relate to non-family members in a group-based setting. This latter reason is particularly important for children who may be underprivileged or deprived, where school may enrich or compensate for the other areas of their life which are lacking, and may provide a constancy of environment not found at home. (Rushton, 1995, p 94, cited in Howarth et al, 1998, p 50)
Existing literature (Gregg and Machin, 1998; Hobcraft, 1998) reveals severe disadvantages for children growing up in poverty with regard to their educational prospects. This chapter contributes, with German data, a special focus for measuring the income situation of children and thereby provides a more differentiated picture than gained with traditional research designs.
Although poverty rates among children in Germany appear less dramatic when compared to other countries (especially the US), the link between poverty and school attendance needs to be carefully investigated. This seems to be true in general for countries with relatively low child poverty rates where one could hypothesise that the educational prospects of children are negatively influenced by a low family income. However, a counter hypothesis would be that a relatively small variation in socioeconomic background is accompanied by relatively equal educational prospects for children.