Economic Migrants, Refugees, and Social Policy: Differences in Welfare Access?

• In Event: Migrants, Refugees, and Social Policies

Abstract

The last half of the twentieth century saw a significant transformation in social policies. The economic expansion of the post-World War II era led to myriad advancements in state social policies; while the economic constraints of the 1970s ushered in an era of reform. Since this time, governments have struggled with ways to expand social policies that protect children and empower families, while also confronting the demands of the public, contemporary ideologies, and modern deterrents. At the core of these considerations are questions regarding who can access welfare schemes.

Scholars studying immigration literature have created broad frameworks concerning government views and policies on immigration. However, these frameworks are generally unhelpful when it comes to refugee social policies. Unlike other immigrant populations, refugee resettlement programs are viewed as an international welfare program, designed to help the most vulnerable populations. It is often assumed, that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees plays a key role in advancing access to welfare services for refugees within destination states. This begs the question, how does legally granted access to a state’s welfare programs defer between economic and humanitarian migrants?

This paper uses mixed-methods to ascertain if there are differences in access to social welfare schemes for economic and humanitarian migrants. First, a logistic analysis is run on five countries - variables in the model are coded by legal scholars and identify access to educational, medical, and housing welfare programs in Germany, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, and South Africa. Next, content analysis is performed to provide a more in-depth understanding of the differences identified in each of the five states.

Author

• Aubrey Leigh Grant, George Mason University