Abstract

This study investigates the subjective well-being of immigrants and natives in the United Kingdom (UK) during the Covid-19 pandemic. A novel aspect of this research is that we exploit the quasi-experimental nature of the pandemic to analyse the potential causal impact of neighbourhood embeddedness in mitigating the adverse shock on subjective well-being. We proxy subjective well-being by life satisfaction and consider neighbourly support and psychological sense of community as indicators of neighbourhood embeddedness. The findings show that the pandemic negatively impacted the life satisfaction of immigrants more than that of natives. The analysis demonstrates that high neighbourhood embeddedness had a significant protective impact on the well-being of immigrants, whereas the opposite was observed for natives. Further analysis reveals that the adverse impact for natives can be attributed to their tendency to comply with Covid-19 social distancing rules, while the results for immigrants remain qualitatively consistent irrespective of their compliance or non-compliance behaviour. The overall findings in this research imply that community-based interventions should be aimed at balancing the promotion of social networking with adherence to health guidelines in a way that minimises well-being trade-offs during a health crisis. 

Abstract

While there is a rich body of research exploring the role of economic integration in explaining the well-being disparity between immigrants and natives in the UK, we know comparatively little about the role of social integration. We contribute by exploring the role of factors representing social integration, including national identity, community involvement, neighbourhood attachment and social networks in explaining the well-being disparity. We consider integration of immigrants as achievement of equivalent outcomes to those of natives across the dimensions of social life under investigation. Using a large-scale panel dataset, our findings confirm that immigrants have lower subjective well-being than natives in the UK, and that this disparity is robust to controlling for demographic characteristics and factors reflecting economic integration. We complement existing research in establishing that national identity, neighbourhood attachment and social networks play an important role in explaining a substantial proportion of the well-being disparity.

Abstract

Breastfeeding rates in the UK are amongst the lowest in the world. One barrier to continuing to breastfeed for as long as the mother and/or child wishes to is return to work. This study develops a formal economic model of breastfeeding and work decisions, considering income and time constraints as well as societal and workplace norms. It then documents the role of mother’s return to work in breastfeeding behaviour using data from the UK Household longitudinal study (UKHLS), employing an event study methodology to study breastfeeding behaviour around the time a woman return to work. We find an increase in the probability of stopping breastfeeding at the point of return to work which is consistent with the idea of a direct trade-off between work and breastfeeding. Accounting for differential timing of return to work by child age, we find that return to work leads to a 9.6 percentage point reduction in the probability of continuing to breastfeed. Such effects are driven entirely by women who do not have the opportunity in their employment to work from home, and those with longer commuting times. We also see strongest effects amongst women working in the industries of retail, education and health. We discuss implications for workplace policies.

The paper examines the social and economic integration of immigrants (i.e., foreign-born) compared to the native-born in the UK. The novel feature is that we employ a unique large-scale panel dataset, which allows us to examine social/economic integration using multiple indicators, thus departing from the conventional singular interpretation. An additional novel feature is that we introduce a composite measure of neighbourhood embeddedness to study social integration that captures immigrants' sense of belongingness, trust and attachment to the neighbourhood. The findings for social integration suggest that immigrants have lower neighbourhood embeddedness, community involvement and a lower likelihood of developing social networks within the UK. For economic integration, we find that immigrants have a higher probability of unemployment and lower homeownership, job security and work autonomy than natives. Additional analysis reveals that the differences between immigrants and natives across most indicators of social and economic integration are larger for non-white immigrants.