Unemployment and Attitudes Towards Foreigners in the European Union: A Statistical Analysis

This paper provides a statistical analysis of the attitudes towards foreigners displayed by European citizens. It is found that, holding other things constant, unemployed Europeans do not have more negative attitudes towards foreigners than the employed. On the other hand, an increased concentration of immigrants in local neighborhoods significantly increases the likelihood of negative attitudes towards foreigners, everything else the same. These results suggest that it is the increased visibility of immigrants in Europe, not the rise of unemployment rates per se, that has been associated with recent anti-foreigner sentiment in the region.