The Final Report of the Study on Active Inclusion of Migrants resulting from an 18-month project funded by the European Commission has been published by the EC. The Study was prepared by a team of researchers from the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn and Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Dublin coordinated by Martin Kahanec.

The Final Report of the Study on Active Inclusion of Migrants resulting from an 18-month project funded by the European Commission has been published by the EC. The Study was prepared by a team of researchers from the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn and Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Dublin coordinated by Martin Kahanec. The Study provides the European Commission with an expert assessment of the main trends in the situation of migrants with regard to social assistance and access to social services. In the empirical analysis the Study uses EU-wide comparable micro-data (EU-SILC), a purpose-made macro-level dataset, country-specific studies and an own purpose-made Expert Opinion Survey to provide an in-depth analysis of the main determinants of these trends. It also provides a comprehensive account of the mutual interaction of migration policies and broadly defined social assistance policies.

The Study concludes that there is no a priori evidence that migration would pose a burden on welfare systems. The Study suggests that the starting point for the debate about migrants and welfare take-up should be the relatively low use of welfare by migrants vis-à-vis comparable natives (in spite of higher poverty rates), and so the policy discussion should be about the social protection of migrants and the extension of social supports and enabling services to them. Immigration and active inclusion policies need to be implemented in a coordinated manner.

Zimmermann, K.F., M. Kahanec, A. Barrett, C. Giulietti, B. Maître and M. Guzi (2012) Study on Active Inclusion of Migrants, IZA Research Report 43, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn.