Who gets in? A conjoint analysis of labor market demand and immigration preferences in England and Japan
Who gets in? A conjoint analysis of labor market demand and immigration preferences in England and Japan
We advance research on attitudes towards immigration using an experimental design that more clearly separates between skill level and labour market demand. In single profile conjoint design experiments fielded in England and Japan, we replicate the well-established finding that high-skill immigrants are generally preferred to low-skill immigrants. However, we also show a more nuanced result in that labour market demand – regardless of skill level – is also important. Indeed, in both England and Japan, the public is willing to accept low-skill workers in high-demand occupations at levels at least as much as for high-skill but low-demand occupations. Labour market demand is an important factor in understanding attitudes towards economic migration.
Kawakami, Riku
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Scotto, Thomas J.
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Dorussen, Han
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Pickering, Steve
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Reifler, Jason
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Sunahara, Yosuke
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Tago, Atsushi
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Yen, Dorothy
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Kawakami, Riku
e98873a5-7274-4554-bb80-28fb8d5038af
Scotto, Thomas J.
46d397ec-85ac-4a35-9020-552f4b493a77
Dorussen, Han
19411d6a-67a6-448b-8e3a-d431408e4967
Pickering, Steve
cb5f99e5-96a2-453e-92dd-6b66c139e166
Reifler, Jason
426301a1-f90b-470d-a076-04a9d716c491
Sunahara, Yosuke
18eb7c44-903a-4bf4-958c-8164401d76d8
Tago, Atsushi
903fcf0a-caf8-414f-b37a-43e2b7c1b3f0
Yen, Dorothy
559b8503-49d4-4b10-948b-3c71b1f28b20
Kawakami, Riku, Scotto, Thomas J., Dorussen, Han, Pickering, Steve, Reifler, Jason, Sunahara, Yosuke, Tago, Atsushi and Yen, Dorothy
(2025)
Who gets in? A conjoint analysis of labor market demand and immigration preferences in England and Japan.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
(doi:10.1080/1369183X.2025.2545432).
Abstract
We advance research on attitudes towards immigration using an experimental design that more clearly separates between skill level and labour market demand. In single profile conjoint design experiments fielded in England and Japan, we replicate the well-established finding that high-skill immigrants are generally preferred to low-skill immigrants. However, we also show a more nuanced result in that labour market demand – regardless of skill level – is also important. Indeed, in both England and Japan, the public is willing to accept low-skill workers in high-demand occupations at levels at least as much as for high-skill but low-demand occupations. Labour market demand is an important factor in understanding attitudes towards economic migration.
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Kawakami et al JEMS
- Accepted Manuscript
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Who gets in a conjoint analysis of labour market demand and immigration preferences in England and Japan
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Accepted/In Press date: 4 August 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 10 September 2025
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 504918
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/504918
ISSN: 1369-183X
PURE UUID: dcd9b1c9-96a2-44b6-862e-5c18d7360f1e
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Date deposited: 22 Sep 2025 16:48
Last modified: 23 Sep 2025 02:19
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Contributors
Author:
Riku Kawakami
Author:
Thomas J. Scotto
Author:
Han Dorussen
Author:
Steve Pickering
Author:
Jason Reifler
Author:
Yosuke Sunahara
Author:
Atsushi Tago
Author:
Dorothy Yen
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