Eroding Social Citizenship? Policy-Induced Conditionality and Migrants’ Non-Take-Up of Social Assistance in Switzerland

This study examines the impact of the 2019 reform of Switzerland’s Foreign Nationals and Integration Act on hidden poverty among foreign nationals. By linking residence permit extension and naturalisation to independence from social assistance, the reform intensified the intersection between welfare and migration policy and introduced new potential deterrents to benefit claiming. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) design, we analyse how the reform affected the non-take-up of social assistance among foreign residents. The empirical analysis relies on linked administrative data from tax, population, and social assistance registers for a large urban area in Switzerland covering the period 2016–2022. While social assistance eligibility rates declined over time, indicating generally favourable economic conditions, non-take-up increased slightly, particularly among groups most exposed to the reform. DiD estimates reveal a statistically significant post-reform increase in non-take-up of between 1.8 and 2.9 percentage points among third-country nationals holding a settlement permit (C). The effect is especially pronounced among households with children. These findings suggest that migration-related conditionality may have unintended consequences by discouraging benefit claiming and thereby institutionalising hidden poverty. More broadly, the study highlights how the interaction between welfare and migration policies may reshape effective access to social rights and challenge the inclusiveness of contemporary welfare states.