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Elderly Immigrants' Labor Supply Response to Supplemental Security Income

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  • Neeraj Kaushal

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of changes in immigrant eligibility for Supplemental Security Income in 1996 on the employment and retirement behaviors of foreign-born elderly persons. I find that denial of SSI was associated with a 5 percentage point (15 percent) increase in the employment of non-citizen elderly men and a 5.6 percentage point (11 percent) decrease in their retirement rate. The estimated effects were higher for recent arrivals, a group most likely to be affected by the policy change. Further, while recent arrivals were more likely to increase part-time work, the earlier arrivals responded to the policy by increasing full-time employment. I find no consistent evidence that denial of SSI affected the employment of elderly immigrant women, but some evidence that it raised their retirement rate, specifically among those who immigrated in recent years.

Suggested Citation

  • Neeraj Kaushal, 2008. "Elderly Immigrants' Labor Supply Response to Supplemental Security Income," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2008-25, Center for Retirement Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2008-25
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    1. 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.
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    4. 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.
    5. Wei-Yin Hu, 1998. "Elderly Immigrants on Welfare," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(3), pages 711-741.
    6. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Bratsberg, Bernt & Raaum, Oddbjørn & Røed, Knut, 2020. "Immigrant Responses to Social Insurance Generosity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    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. East, Chloe N., 2018. "Immigrants’ labor supply response to Food Stamp access," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 202-226.

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