The Institutional Dimensions of High-Skilled Immigration Policy Changes

The paper examines differences in countries’ high-skilled immigration policies (HSI thereafter), both cross-nationally and over time. It provides a political economy explanation for when a change in HSI policy can take place. Preferences of actors remain constant and institutions hardly change. However, coalitions between actors (i.e. high-skilled native labour, low-skilled native labour and capital) vary. Actors gain or lose power, depending on the institutionalisation between labour market actors and political parties, as well as the institutionalisation of high-skilled workers and parties/ districts. The institutionalisation of high-skilled labour becomes a significant factor in determining whether high-skilled labour gains representation in lobbying for more restrictive HSI policies. The paper establishes the following four hypotheses. Hypothesis 1: If there is a link between union and political party, then the policy output will be more restrictive towards HSI. Hypothesis 2: If there is a party representation of high-skilled labour, then the policy output will be more restrictive towards HSI. Hypothesis 3: If there is a district or state representation of high-skilled labour, then the policy output will be more restrictive towards HSI. Hypothesis 4: If there is no connection between unions and parties, no party representation and no district/ state representation of high-skilled labour, then the policy output will be more open towards HSI. The paper tests the hypotheses by examining policy changes over time in four countries: Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.