Does Labor Protection Increase Support for Immigration? Evidence from Switzerland

What drives native support for immigration? At a time of rising anti-immigration sentiments, this is a question raised by both academics and policy makers. We study the role of labor protection in shaping native preferences over migration policies. We look at Swiss national votes which took place from 2000 to 2014. Our results show that a higher migrant exposure reduces pro-immigration vote shares in municipalities with a relatively low-skilled native population. The negative response is mitigated under higher levels of labor market protection as measured by collective bargaining coverage. Our labor market analysis suggests that the wages of the lowest skilled are most sensitive to immigration exposure. Collective agreements are most relevant for this skill group and we find that they mitigate part of the negative wage effect.