Even when one looks solely at the age group 25–61 years, the most economically active of all, non-Western immigrants cost the Norwegian state four billion kroner more than they pay in tax.
This is shown by recent figures from Statistics Norway, which Nettavisen presents on Monday.
The figures, commissioned by the Progress Party, cover the 23 largest immigrant groups and compare households’ tax contributions with benefits and transfers received. Thus, it is not pensioners, children, or students who pull the figures down. These are people in their prime working years.
Overall, immigrants contribute a net 45,000 kroner per household per year. However, behind the average lie dramatic differences. Five country groups contribute more than non-immigrants. Nine groups are in surplus, but below the level of the rest of the population. The remaining nine are in deficit.
At the bottom we find Syria, where each household on average receives 205,000 kroner more in benefits than it pays in tax. In total, Syrian immigrants cost the state three billion kroner annually. Ukrainian immigrants cost 4.2 billion, Somali two billion, and Iraqi 1.3 billion.
The twelve largest European immigrant groups, by contrast, contribute 12.9 billion more in tax than they receive. If Ukraine is excluded, the European groups are 17.1 billion in surplus. Only Turkey contributes negatively.
– Integration has failed
The Progress Party’s spokesperson on immigration policy, Erlend Wiborg, believes the figures show that asylum immigration must be halted.
– Even groups that have been here for a long time contribute negatively. Pakistanis were the first non-Western immigrant group, and even they are in deficit. Syrians perform extremely poorly after ten years. This shows that integration in Norway has failed, Wiborg tells Nettavisen.
He rejects the argument that Norway would not function without immigration.
– Swedes, Poles, Britons, Indians and others contribute very positively to Norway. It is the countries we have asylum immigration from that impose entirely extreme costs on taxpayers, says Wiborg.
In the 25–61 age group, there are nine categories that stand out in particular for receiving more in benefits than they contribute to the public purse.
- Syria: – 205,863
- Ukraine: – 157,950
- Somalia: – 137,351
- Iraq: – 115,100
- Afghanistan: – 62,866
- Turkey: – 46,271
- Thailand: – 22,825
- Pakistan: – 11,862
- Eritrea: – 2084
The Government acknowledges the problem
The Minister of Labour and Inclusion, Kjersti Stenseng (Labour Party), partly agrees with Wiborg.
– It has been a problem in Norway that benefits are too high. Too many have had multiple benefits stacked on top of each other, such that it does not pay to move from benefits into work, Stenseng tells Nettavisen.
In January, the Government presented a proposal for a new integration allowance that removes the right to social assistance and housing benefits for newly arrived refugees during the first five years, with a requirement of mandatory activity.
– We must not accept more than we can integrate, says the minister.
Equal income, entirely different sources
The Statistics Norway figures also reveal a telling contrast: Polish and Syrian households have almost identical total income—only 2,450 kroner per month separates them. However, while the Polish household derives its income from work, the Syrian one largely receives it from public benefits. Syrian households are also larger (3.0 persons, compared with 1.9 for Poles), but Syrians have fewer in employment: 0.7 compared with 1.1.