Assessment of immigrants’ impact on the Slovak economy

Abstract

The migration process is becoming more and more intensive in the European region. Various opinions have been expressed about the effects of immigration on the country’s economy. Most of these opinions reveal a positive impact via fulfilling deficits in the labour market and tax payments. On the other hand, a negative long-term effect on the social security system because of the poor integration of immigrants into the domestic population can be seen as a thread in this discussion. This paper analyses the impact of immigration, based on the United Nations National Transfer Accounts methodology developed by Lee and Mason. This methodology is employed to break down the System of National Accounts with respect to age groups and generations and, in addition, show the economic flows between them. The findings of this paper show that the earnings and consumption behaviour of immigrants and natives in Slovakia differ; immigrants tend to work after retirement age, earn more, and consume less, which results in positive effects on the aggregate life cycle deficit.

Keywords

• national transfer accounts
• immigration
• slovakia
• income
• consumption
• life cycle deficit
• j15
• j18
• j61
• e24