Costs of Unemployment and the Immigrant Male Labor Force’s Life Satisfaction in the United Kingdom, 2009-2015

• In Event: 2384 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 11. Labor Market Incorporation

Abstract

Driven by two existing approaches, deprivation and financial strain, this study decomposes the detrimental effect of unemployment on life satisfaction of the immigrant male labor force into two aspects – pecuniary and non-pecuniary costs. Based on a countrywide longitudinal dataset in the UK, we analyze the composition of unemployment costs by focusing on characteristics unique to the immigrant population. From the host-country aspect, greater pecuniary costs of unemployment – caused by subjective financial strain – are found among the native-born and immigrants whose legal residency in the UK is less vulnerable to unemployment. Greater non-pecuniary costs of unemployment are found among immigrant men, and particularly among those whose legal residency status in the UK is more precarious. From the source-country aspect, while pecuniary costs of unemployment are positively associated with the level of economic development, non-pecuniary costs are related to the male unemployment rate in one’s country of origin.

Authors

• Jing Shen, University of Mannheim

• Irena Kogan, University of Mannheim