Immigrants' support for welfare spending: The causes and consequences of welfare usage and welfare knowledgeability

Abstract

Over the past several decades, the demographic landscape of the Netherlands has become increasingly diversified with immigrants arriving from a variety of countries. Studies have emphasized that immigrants have a particular high risk of becoming dependent on welfare, leading to the assumption that immigrants largely support public welfare spending. The present study examines support for welfare spending from the immigrant perspective and aims to gain a better understanding of their knowledge and usage of their welfare access. This study reveals the importance of welfare access perceptions with regards to their preferences for welfare spending, while acknowledging their relatively frequent under- or overestimation of their access to certain welfare arrangements. The results show that immigrants with more resources are likely to refrain from welfare usage, but that these resources are not likely to equip them with the information they need to acquire welfare. Immigrants’ support for welfare spending can for a large part be explained by their level of household income, while at the same time an effect of the immigrant group’s interests in welfare usage is found. Though the latter is small in size, suggesting that the immigrant population does not diverge substantially from the native population to accomplish risk aversion.