comprehensive income data are available, including information on taxes paid and benefits received, plus the migrant and non-migrant population groups can be compared over the same time periods.

On the flipside, there are two main shortcomings of using the EU-SILC data for these comparisons. First, despite the fact that the survey contains fairly comprehensive data on tax and benefit receipts, coverage of these is nonetheless still incomplete. For instance, indirect taxes paid (e.g. value-added taxes) are impossible to estimate from such data, as is the consumption of public goods (e.g. use of highways, national parks, etc.). Second, data are typically available for a limited time period (e.g. one year), thus making it difficult to make comparisons across the various sub-groups of interest over a longer time period without making relatively strong assumptions. Finally (though this is a point that applies to all such studies, whether based on the SILC or on any other data set), an important point to bear in mind is that the “economic contribution of migrants” is a much broader concept than the relatively narrow “net fiscal impact” definition employed in this study. However, bearing all these caveats in mind, it is nonetheless informative to compare and contrast estimates of earnings, taxes paid, and benefits received derived using the 2006 EU-SILC data set. We start by presenting some summary statistics on average personal gross earnings and average income taxes paid on those earnings in selected EU countries, as well as how these amounts vary across the five main sub-groups of interest (Table 7).<sup>13</sup>

**Table 7: Average Personal Earned Income and Personal Income Tax**

|||||**E**|**urosperyea**<br>|**r**<br>||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Austria**|**Belgium**|**Spain**|**France**|**Ireland**|**Sweden**|**UK**|**EU 4**|**EU13**|
|**Average Personal Earned Income**||||||||||
|Native-born population|21,430|23,074|12,474|19,193|23,593|22,837|26,373|4,093|20,790|
|1. Citizens born in other EU countries|23,338|19,825|12,617|18,768|24,519|24,284|**...**|4,445|20,489|
|2. Citizens born outside the EU|16,187|15,293|11,169|18,874|**...**|14,667|25,419|6,013|20,166|
|3. Non-citizens from other EU countries|20,442|23,373|10,785|20,811|22,965|15,361|28,656|5,873|21,226|
|4. Non-citizens born outside the EU|12,721|13,268|9,575|10,644|17,140|8,310|22,347|4,329|14,970|
|All migrants (i.e. groups 1-4)|15,766|17,754|10,278|16,038|22,001|15,089|24,097|4,929|18,072|
|**Average Personal Income Tax**||||||||||
|Native-born population|6,273|7,736|2,292|N/A|5,071|7,148|7,280|1,135|5,375|
|1. Citizens born in other EU countries|7,032|6,843|2,306|N/A|5,329|7,483|**...**|1,057|6,050|
|2. Citizens born outside the EU|4,247|4,886|1,716|N/A|**...**|4,487|7,504|1,752|6,039|
|3. Non-citizens from other EU countries|7,203|7,736|1,944|N/A|4,781|4,854|7,944|1,492|6,087|
|4. Non-citizens born outside the EU|3,247|4,509|1,382|N/A|2,987|2,578|6,301|964|4,287|
|All migrants(i.e.groups 1-4)|4,180|5,532|1,569|N/A|4,337|4,567|6,630|1,042|4,973|

**Note:** Computed over all adults aged 21-55 years, regardless of employment status. Average personal earned incomes for France are not comparable to other countries, as data on taxes paid are not available (i.e. only have earnings net of taxes). **...** too few observations to permit reliable estimates to be derived.

**Personal earnings and income taxes:** In EU13 countries, average earnings of the various population groups are quite similar, with one notable exception: non-citizens born outside the EU (group 4) have substantially lower earnings than others (about 70 percent of average earnings of other groups). Non-citizen migrants in France and Sweden born outside the EU stand out in this respect, as their average earnings are only 52 percent and 36 percent of what non-migrants earn in these respective countries (Table 7).<sup>14</sup> Having lower earnings on average, these migrants tend to pay

> 13 Income tax is calculated as a difference between reported gross and net earnings for individuals. Income tax information was not available for Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Hungary and Slovakia.

> 14 Part of the difference in earnings can be explained by the differing profile: as noted earlier, these migrants tend to have lower rates of employment and higher share of lower-educated blue-collar workers than native-born population.

14