The socioeconomic integration of migrants in the Netherland is correlated with the cultural distance to the origin of migrants

1. The correlation between
the socioeconomic integration of migrants in NL
and the cultural distance between NL and their origin
Drs. Gerrit Kreffer, MPA Msc ReMa
Dutch Demography Day Utrecht 4/12/2023
Affiliation:
-I Was a policy advisor for the Dutch government
-Now Independent researcher after
a double Master Social Demography Groningen (2017)

2. 2
Socioeconomic integration indicator here:
“Net contribution (benefits minus costs) to Dutch treasury over a lifetime”
BENEFITS
COSTS
Statistic Netherlands
microdata 2016
based on 17 million
inhabitants
+
Budget data Ministry
of Finance

3. "The net contribution” of inhabitants changes with age
3
costs of education taxes and premiums paid when working care costs at older age

4. 4
Net contribution by migration origin
group (x 1000 euros)
All immigrants –generations 1 and 2 added - cost an
average net 270,000 Euro in the mean.
Socioeconomic integration = minimal zero contribution
or plus.
A negative contribution means a poor existence for
the migrant groups concerned.
2nd generation born in NL does better than the 1st but
is not successful.

5. The net contribution of 1st and 2nd generation migrants mapped
Also useful for other research: quantitative data on the socioeconomic integration of 87 migrant groups in NL
5
+€310,000
–€890,000

6. 6
Cultural distance is the difference in
values between NL and a migrant
origin country measured on two
World Values Map scales: survival vs
self-expression (X) and traditional vs
secular-rational (Y).
World Values Map

7. The correlation between net
contribution and cultural distance
7

8. Correlation between net contribution and education level.
Cultural distance as explanation of the disparity between African-Islamic
(orange) and other cultural zones (blue).
8
-€ 600,000
-€ 500,000
-€ 400,000
-€ 300,000
-€ 200,000
-€ 100,000
€ 0
€ 100,000
€ 200,000
2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0
Net
contribution
2ⁿᵈ
generation
per
person
Average level of education 2ⁿᵈ generation grouped by parent country of origin
Rest clusters African-Islamic cluster Trend* Caribbean/Suriname

9. The cultural distance
we used in our
research is larger than
“the real” cultural
distance of migrants
to natives in the
destination as found
in the World Values
Survey (wave 7).
In the survey results,
there is no correlation
between cultural
distance and
economic position
9
WORLD VALUES MAP
Scores of origins (w-yellow) and scores of migrants themselves in Protestant Europe (P-blue)
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
0.45
0.50
0.55
0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80
SECULAR
VALUES
EMANCIPATIVE VALUES

10. What differences between zones and countries can explain the correlation?
10
My – pretty bad - hypothesis:
larger cultural distance = more differences between countries = more obstacles to integration = less migrant integration
less
importance
of
God
less
hierarchical
collectivistic individualistic

11. 11
Coauthors: Jan van de Beek, Joop Hartog, Hans Roodenburg
Borderless welfare state (2023) is downloadable from demo-demo.nl/en
Comments and questions: gerrit.kreffer@gmail.com
This presentation can be found in my ResearchGate files