Working Together: Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children in Sweden

206 Pages·2016·4.853 MB·English

by  Oecd Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development

Working Together W
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skills and Labour Market integration rk Working Together
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of immigrants and their Children in sweden T
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Immigrants and their children account for 20% of the population in OECD countries. t
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Their integration is essential to ensure social cohesion and the acceptance e integration of immigrants
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of immigration by the host country society, yet their skills potential is often underused.
This series of country reviews looks at how countries are faring with respect to building s and their Children
and using the skills of immigrants and their children for labour market integration. k
Each review analyses the framework and instruments in place in light of the challenges ills
faced and the outcomes obtained, and concludes with a number of country-specific an in sweden
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recommendations. L
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Contents b
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Chapter 1. Migration in Sweden and the context of integration policy r M
Chapter 2. Settlement of migrants in Sweden and the introduction programme a
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Chapter 3. The supply of migrant skills in Sweden e
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Chapter 4. Strengthening demand for migrant skills in Sweden in
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Chapter 5. Helping migrants find work in Sweden g
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Consult this publication on line at http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264257382-en. s
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This work is published on the OECD iLibrary, which gathers all OECD books, periodicals and e
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statistical databases. e
Visit www.oecd-ilibrary.org for more information. n
isbn 978-92-64-25737-5
81 2016 06 1 P

Working Together:
Skills and Labour
Market Integration
of Immigrants and their
Children in Sweden
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the
OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not
necessarily reflect the official views of OECD member countries.
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of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers
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Please cite this publication as:
OECD (2016), Working Together: Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their
Children in Sweden, OECD Publishing, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264257382-en
ISBN 978-92-64-25737-5 (print)
ISBN 978-92-64-25738-2 (PDF)
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3
FOREWORD –

Foreword
This review of the skills and labour market integration of immigrants
and their children in Sweden is the first in a new series conducted by the
International Migration Division in the OECD Directorate for Employment,
Labour and Social Affairs (DELSA). It builds on previous country-specific
reports by the OECD in the series Jobs for Immigrants (Vols. 1, 2 and 3).
With 16% of its population born abroad, Sweden has one of the larger
immigrant populations among the European OECD countries. Estimates
suggest that about half of the foreign-born population originally came to
Sweden as refugees or as the family of refugees and in recent years, among
all OECD countries, Sweden has had by far the largest inflows of asylum
seekers relative to its population. In all OECD countries, humanitarian
migrants and their families face greater challenges to integrate into the
labour market than other groups. It is thus not surprising that immigrant
versus native-born differences are larger than elsewhere, which also must be
seen in the context of high skills and labour market participation among the
native-born.
2015 was a record year as 163 000 asylum seekers arrived in Sweden to
seek shelter, the highest per-capita inflow ever registered in an OECD
country. A significant share of these asylum seekers are expected to receive
international protection. Favourable labour market conditions and highly-
developed and longstanding integration policies ensured that Sweden was well
prepared to deal with this sudden increase. Existing integration measures have
been scaled up and several new initiatives launched – including a fast-track
initiative to integrate skilled refugees into shortage occupations.
This review examines the skills and labour market situation of
immigrants and their children in the context outlined above. The remainder
of the report is structured as follows: The report starts with an assessment
and recommendations. Chapter 1 presents an overview of context in which
integration in Sweden takes place – the labour market context and the
background and composition of Sweden’s foreign-born population.
Chapter 2 sets out the framework for the settlement of newly-arrived
refugees in Sweden and outlines the core policies at the heart of early
WORKING TOGETHER: SKILLS AND LABOUR MARKET INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR CHILDREN IN SWEDEN © OECD 2016
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– FOREWORD

integration efforts. Chapter 3 examines the routes through which migrants
can acquire and build the skills that are necessary in Swedish society and on
Swedish labour markets before Chapter 4 turns to the employer demand for
these skills and how policy is working to strengthen this demand. Finally
Chapter 5 looks at the mechanisms through which skills supply is matched
to skill demand in order to ensure that migrants are able to find employment
that makes appropriate use of the skills, qualifications and experience.
WORKING TOGETHER: SKILLS AND LABOUR MARKET INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR CHILDREN IN SWEDEN © OECD 2016
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS –

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This review was written by Emily Farchy and Thomas Liebig, both from
the OECD International Migration Division. Marianne Gierow, Julie Rondeau
and Anne-Sophie Schmidt provided important contributions. The review
benefitted from comments from Jean-Christophe Dumont, Kristoffer
Lundberg, Mark Pearson and Stefano Scarpetta.
The OECD Secretariat would like to thank the Swedish Ministry of
Employment and the Swedish Ministry of Finance for supporting this
review. The OECD is particularly grateful to the cross ministerial team
including Tommi Teljosuo, Gisela Waisman, Lena Moritz and, in particular,
Michael Hagos, whose management and co-ordination in gathering the
relevant stakeholders, organising field missions, and facilitating the work of
the OECD Secretariat were invaluable in the production of this review. Elin
Landell, Hugo Rickberg, Anders Björk, Jan Norberg and Soledad Grafeuille
also provided valuable input.
The Secretariat would also like to thank the authorities and actors from
the public and private sectors, civil society and academia who participated in
the workshop and following meetings conducted during drafting of the
review.
WORKING TOGETHER: SKILLS AND LABOUR MARKET INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR CHILDREN IN SWEDEN © OECD 2016

7
TABLE OF CONTENTS –

Table of contents
Acronyms and abbreviations .................................................................................... 11
Executive summary .................................................................................................. 13
Assessment and recommendations ........................................................................... 17
Chapter 1. Migration in Sweden and the context of integration policy ................. 33
The labour market context......................................................................................... 36
The integration context.............................................................................................. 40
Integration policy ...................................................................................................... 46
Notes ........................................................................................................................ 49
References ................................................................................................................ 51
Chapter 2. Settlement of migrants in Sweden and the introduction programme ..... 53
Settlement .................................................................................................................. 54
The introduction programme ..................................................................................... 64
Notes ........................................................................................................................ 77
References ................................................................................................................ 80
Chapter 3. The supply of migrant skills in Sweden ................................................. 81
Integrating young immigrants into the school system ............................................... 82
Ensuring all adults have the skills to integrate into society
and the labour market ................................................................................................ 97
Learning the Swedish language ............................................................................... 105
Notes ...................................................................................................................... 115
References .............................................................................................................. 117
Chapter 4. Strengthening demand for migrant skills in Sweden .......................... 121
Working with employer incentives: Giving migrants the chance
to prove their skills .................................................................................................. 123
Tackling discrimination........................................................................................... 140
Notes ...................................................................................................................... 147
References .............................................................................................................. 150

WORKING TOGETHER: SKILLS AND LABOUR MARKET INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR CHILDREN IN SWEDEN © OECD 2016
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– TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 5. Helping migrants find work in Sweden ............................................... 153
Finding a job: Networks and the Public Employment Service ................................ 154
Finding the right job: Recognition, validation and bridging ................................... 170
Notes ...................................................................................................................... 191
References .............................................................................................................. 194

Annex A. Wage subsidy net cost calculations ............................................................. 197

Figures
Figure 1.1. Employment and unemployment among native- and foreign-born
individuals, 2004-14 ........................................................................................ 37
Figure 1.2. Employment disparities between native- and foreign-born
individuals, 2014 ............................................................................................. 38
Figure 1.3. Low-skilled employment, 2013 ............................................................ 39
Figure 1.4. Immigrants and native-born offspring of immigrants, 2013
or most recent year .......................................................................................... 40
Figure 1.5. Composition of permanent inflows to OECD countries, 2004-13 ........ 42
Figure 1.6. Employment by duration of stay, 1997-99 cohort ................................ 43
Figure 1.7. Employment disparities depend upon country of origin, 2008-14 ........ 44
Figure 1.8. Employment by educational attainment, 2014, or latest available year .. 45
Figure 2.1. Newly-arrived refugees and accompanying family migrants,
by municipality, 2014 ...................................................................................... 57
Figure 2.2. Accommodation during the settlement process .................................... 59
Figure 2.3. Employment trajectory of refugees arriving in 2000,
by education level ............................................................................................ 62
Figure 2.4. The path of a new arrival through the introduction plan ....................... 65
Figure 2.5. Flow of financial resources into the introduction programme .............. 72
Figure 3.1. Students with an adequate performance in mathematics,
by immigrant background, 2012 ...................................................................... 83
Figure 3.2. Differences in literacy proficiency between immigrants and natives,
by age at arrival, 2012 ..................................................................................... 84
Figure 3.3. Pathways through the education system ............................................... 91
Figure 3.4. Percentage of students qualified for upper secondary at the end of
compulsory schooling, 2013 ............................................................................ 92
Figure 3.5. Distribution of Students across Introductory Programmes, 2014 ......... 92
Figure 3.6. Paths out of the “Individual Alternative” programme, 2011 cohort ..... 94
Figure 3.7. Early school leavers, 2013 .................................................................... 95
Figure 3.8. NEET rates and inactivity by parental origin and age at arrival,
aged 15-34, 2013 ............................................................................................. 96
WORKING TOGETHER: SKILLS AND LABOUR MARKET INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR CHILDREN IN SWEDEN © OECD 2016