Medborgarskap ökar sannolikheten för arbete

Min fd. kollega Pieter Bevelander har tillsammans med Ravi Pendakur skrivit ett intressant Working Paper om effekten av medborgarskap, Citizenship, Co-ethnic Populations and Employment Probabilities of Immigrants in Sweden. Jag hade förmånen att läsa en tidigare version på en konferens i somras och överraskades av resultaten. Jag hoppas att fler forskare kommer att ge input och kommentarer på studien vars resultat i högsta grad är policyrelevanta.

Två viktiga resultat av studien:
* acquisition of citizenship makes a real difference to the probability of obtaining employment. Foreign-born men and women who acquire citizenship are far more likely to be employed than those who do not.
* the impact of the co-immigrant population is particularly important for immigrants from Asia and Africa, immigrant groups that also have the lowest employment rate.

Därav drar forskarna slutsatsen att:
* tightening up citizenship regulations may result in decreased employment opportunities for immigrants in receiving countries. This could have the effect of actually increasing social welfare costs.