Closing the Gaps: The Positive Effects of Welfare Inclusion on Immigrants’ Labour Market Integration

In recent decades we have witnessed a significant rise in global migration flows accompanied by changes in national migration policies (De Haas, Natter, and Vezzoli 2015).¹ Given that projections anticipate that migration flows into developed countries will increase in the coming years (UN-DESA 2016), it is crucial for us to understand which factors contribute to successful labour market integration of immigrants in host countries. Most evidence to date reveals that immigrant labour market performance systematically falls behind that of native-born citizens (Barrett and Duffy 2008; Chiswick and Miller 2011; Kahanec and Zimmermann 2011; Zimmermann et al. 2008). This is important