Study Shows Dutch People Afraid to Speak out Against High Costs of Immigration

A new study by Dutch social scientist Jan van de Beek shows that many Dutch are worried about the high costs of immigration, but are afraid to speak out.

The study, part of van de Beek’s doctoral thesis at the University of Amsterdam, attempted to answer two questions: what kind of economic consequences did mass immigration to the Netherlands between 1960 and 2005 have and why is it such a taboo to study the economic effects of these immigrants.

Van de Beek says that the mass migration allowed by previous governments was a catastrophe: “The recruitment of labourers in the 1960s was an economic disaster. The stated intent here was to keep wages down, but we would have been better served by letting them rise.”  He also adds that each new immigrant costs Dutch taxpayers 43,000 euros and immigration overall costs the Netherlands 5.9 billions each year.

While many Dutch are concerned with the ramifications and costs of mass immigration, most are afraid to speak out for fear of bring branded racists or xenophobes. Indeed the Dutch government refuses to calculate the cost of immigration because it would be “”improper” to reduce citizens’ contribution to society “to a profit-loss analysis.””  

Click here to read more about van de Beek’s study.