IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v29y2010i1p137-162.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Elderly immigrants' labor supply response to supplemental security income

Author

Listed:
  • Neeraj Kaushal

    (Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Columbia University and Research Associate, National Bureau of Economics Research)

Abstract

This paper examined how the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which banned Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for the majority of elderly immigrants, affected their employment, retirement, and family incomes. The policy was found to be associated with a 3.5 percentage point (9.5 percent) increase in the employment and a 3.8 percentage point (7 percent) decrease in the retirement of foreign-born elderly men. Partly as a result of their employment response, SSI ineligibility and the consequent decline in SSI receipt did not have any statistically significant effects on the family incomes of elderly foreign-born men. Noncitizen elderly women, on the other hand, did not experience any increase in employment, and those without family support suffered a 10 to 17 percent decline in income. These findings suggest that access to SSI did not create work disincentives for noncitizen elderly women and that SSI restrictions have imposed financial hardship on those without any family support, many of whom perhaps cannot effectively increase their employment. © 2010 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Suggested Citation

  • Neeraj Kaushal, 2010. "Elderly immigrants' labor supply response to supplemental security income," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 137-162.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:29:y:2010:i:1:p:137-162
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.20482
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.20482
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.20482?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George J. Borjas & Lynette Hilton, 1996. "Immigration and the Welfare State: Immigrant Participation in Means-Tested Entitlement Programs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 575-604.
    2. Jennifer Van Hook, 2003. "Welfare Reform's Chilling Effects on Noncitizens: Changes in Noncitizen Welfare Recipiency or Shifts in Citizenship Status?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 84(3), pages 613-631, September.
    3. Paul S. Davies & Michael J. Greenwood, 2004. "Welfare Reform and Immigrant Participation in the Supplemental Security Income Program," Working Papers wp087, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    4. Neeraj Kaushal, 2005. "New Immigrants' Location Choices: Magnets without Welfare," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(1), pages 59-80, January.
    5. Steven J. Haider & Robert F. Schoeni & Yuhua Bao & Caroline Danielson, 2004. "Immigrants, welfare reform, and the economy," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 745-764.
    6. Wei-Yin Hu, 1998. "Elderly Immigrants on Welfare," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(3), pages 711-741.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bruce D. Meyer & Derek Wu, 2018. "The Poverty Reduction of Social Security and Means-Tested Transfers," NBER Working Papers 24567, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Dias, Felipe A & Chance, Joseph, 2021. "COVID-19, Public Charge Rules, and Immigrant Employment in the United States," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt37f8w4sf, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    3. East, Chloe N., 2018. "Immigrants’ labor supply response to Food Stamp access," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 202-226.
    4. Mary J. Lopez & Sita Slavov, 2020. "Do immigrants delay retirement and social security claiming?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(10), pages 1105-1123, February.
    5. Bratsberg, Bernt & Raaum, Oddbjørn & Røed, Knut, 2020. "Immigrant Responses to Social Insurance Generosity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. Burns, Marguerite & Dague, Laura, 2017. "The effect of expanding Medicaid eligibility on Supplemental Security Income program participation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 20-34.
    7. C. Yiwei Zhang & Jeffrey Hemmeter & Judd B. Kessler & Robert D. Metcalfe & Robert Weathers, 2023. "Nudging Timely Wage Reporting: Field Experimental Evidence from the U.S. Supplemental Security Income Program," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1341-1353, March.
    8. Matthew Freedman & Yoonjung Kim, 2022. "Quasi‐Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Expanding Cash Welfare," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 859-890, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kerstin Gerst & Jeffrey Burr, 2011. "Welfare Use Among Older Hispanic Immigrants: The Effect of State and Federal Policy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(1), pages 129-150, February.
    2. Euwals, Rob & Dagevos, Jaco & Gijsberts, Mérove & Roodenburg, Hans, 2007. "Immigration, Integration and the Labour Market: Turkish Immigrants in Germany and the Netherlands," IZA Discussion Papers 2677, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Riphahn, Regina, 1999. "Immigrant Participation in Social Assistance Programs: Evidence from German Guestworkers," CEPR Discussion Papers 2318, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Anthony Edo & Lionel Ragot & Hillel Rapoport & Sulin Sardoschau & Andreas Steinmayr & Arthur Sweetman, 2020. "An introduction to the economics of immigration in OECD countries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1365-1403, November.
    5. Victoria Chorny & Rob Euwals & Kees Folmer, 2007. "Immigration policy and welfare state design; a qualitative approach to explore the interaction," CPB Document 153, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    6. Tara Watson, 2014. "Inside the Refrigerator: Immigration Enforcement and Chilling Effects in Medicaid Participation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 313-338, August.
    7. Rob Euwals & Hans Roodenburg & J. Dagevos & M. Gijsberts, 2006. "Immigration, integration and the labour market; Turkish immigrants in Germany and the Netherlands," CPB Discussion Paper 75.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    8. Greenwood, Michael J. & McDowell, John M. & Wierman, Matt, 2003. "Source-country social programs and the age composition of legal US immigrants," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 739-771, March.
    9. Corrado Giulietti, 2014. "The welfare magnet hypothesis and the welfare take-up of migrants," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-37, June.
    10. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2011. "Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey," Finnish Economic Papers, Finnish Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    11. East, Chloe N., 2018. "Immigrants’ labor supply response to Food Stamp access," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 202-226.
    12. Jorgen Hansen & Magnus Lofstrom, 2003. "Immigrant Assimilation and Welfare Participation Do Immigrants Assimilate Into or Out of Welfare?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
    13. Kendal Lowrey & Jennifer Hook, 2022. "Standing on Their Own Two Feet: How the New Public Charge Rules Could Impact Non-European LPR Applicants," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(2), pages 559-582, April.
    14. Una Okonkwo Osili & Jia Xie, 2009. "Do Immigrants and Their Children Free Ride More Than Natives?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 28-34, May.
    15. Lubomira Anastassova & Teodora Paligorova, 2005. "Why Immigrants Manage to Grab More SocialBenefits? Empirical Cross - Country Analysis," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp263, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    16. Xiaoning Huang & Neeraj Kaushal & Julia Shu-Huah Wang, 2021. "What Explains the Gap in Welfare Use Among Immigrants and Natives?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(4), pages 819-860, August.
    17. Rob Euwals & Hans Roodenburg & J. Dagevos & M. Gijsberts, 2006. "Immigration, integration and the labour market; Turkish immigrants in Germany and the Netherlands," CPB Discussion Paper 75, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    18. Xiaoning Huang & Neeraj Kaushal & Julia Shu-Huah Wang, 2020. "What Explains the Gap in Welfare Use among Immigrants and Natives?," NBER Working Papers 27811, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Bird, Edward J. & Kayser, Hilke & Frick, Joachim R. & Wagner, Gert G., 1999. "The Immigrant Welfare Effect: Take-Up or Eligibility?," IZA Discussion Papers 66, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Lingxin Hao & Yukio Kawano, 2001. "Immigrants’ welfare use and opportunity for contact with co-ethnics," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(3), pages 375-389, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:29:y:2010:i:1:p:137-162. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.