ELDERLY IMMIGRANTS ON WELFARE

The difference between immigrants' and natives' use of welfare program s is concentrated among the elderly. This paper examines the determina nts of immigrants' welfare participation decisions to evaluate the con sequences of changes in immigration and welfare policy. An important f inding for immigration policy is that immigrants who arrive after age 55 are significantly more likely to use welfare than the typical immig rant who arrives during prime working years. Surprisingly, this age-at -arrival effect is not explained by differences in Social Security ben efits between young arrivers and old-arrivers. The problem of immigran t welfare use is not simply low incomes or poor labor market performan ce: decisions regarding takeup of benefits are an important explanatio n for the effect of age at arrival. Finally, the sharp rise in immigra nts' use of welfare during the 1980s was due mostly to higher welfare participation rates of new immigrants.