The employment integration of immigrants in Sweden

Abstract

This article investigates the declining employment assimilation of various groups of foreign‐born men and women in Sweden during the period 1970 to 1990. It discusses the factors which determine the probability of being employed in Sweden in 1970 and 1990. The analysis reveals that formal human capital characteristics of the foreign‐born are important factors for obtaining employment in the Swedish labour market. This does not explain the entire difference in levels in the employment rate between Swedes and the various groups of foreign‐born. Traditional discrimination may explain this situation, but an alternative explanation could be structural changes that have occurred in the economy, which increased the demand for specialised knowledge such as culture‐specific social competence, and language skills. These developments favoured the native‐born in terms of obtaining employment.