The Immigration-Skill Nexus: Similarities and Differences among the Nordic Countries

Figures & data

Table 5. Immigrant population shares in the Nordic countries and in an average of all the countries that participated PIAAC 2011–2012.

Country	Foreign born, %	Thereof: immigrated at age 6+, %	Thereof: immigrated before age 6, %
Denmark	11.8	9.9	1.9
Finland	5.7	4.8	0.9
Norway	13.4	12.2	1.2
Sweden	17.5	15.0	2.5
PIAAC average^a	11.1	9.6	1.5

Source: OECD (2013a) and own computations.

^aAustralia, Cyprus and the Russian Federation are not included in the PIAAC average. Access to data for Australia requires permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The Cypriote data have been withdrawn by the OECD. The data for the Russian Federation are preliminary and do not include the Moscow area. The PIAAC average with respect to PS-TRE skills further does not include Italy, France, and Spain, as these countries (like Cyprus) opted out of the test of PS-TRE skills. Finally, the partition of the PIAAC averages into those that immigrated before and after age 6 does not include Germany, as Germany does not report any information about immigrants’ ages.

Table 1. Information about the implementation of PIAAC in the Nordic countries and for an average of the countries that participated in PIAAC 2011–2012.

Country	# of tested skills^b	Languages^c	Minimum sample size^d	# of respondents^e	Response rate, %^f
Denmark	3	1: Danish	5 000	7 328	50
Finland	3	2: Finnish, Swedish	5 276	5 464	66
Norway	3	1: Norwegian	5 000	5 128	62
Sweden	3	1: Swedish	5 000	4 469	45
PIAAC average^a	2.8	1.3	5 341	7 082	61

Sources: OECD (2013b, Table 3.7), OECD (2013c, Table 14-19, Table 16-7).

^aThe Russian Federation is not included in the PIAAC average, due to the Russian data being preliminary and not including the Moscow area.

^bLiteracy and numeracy tests were conducted in all of the participating countries. Four countries choose to opt out of the PS-TRE test: Cyprus, France, Italy and Spain.

^cOutside the Nordic region, PIAAC was implemented in multiple languages in Canada (English, French), Estonia (Estonian, Russia), Slovak Republic (Slovak, Hungarian) and Spain (Castilian, Basque, Catalan, Galician, and Valencian).

^dThe minimum sample size depends on the number of skills tested and the number of languages in which PIAAC was implemented.

^eFive countries expanded their samples with respect to various sub-populations, namely, Australia: certain states and provinces; Denmark: 55–65 year-olds and newly arrived immigrants; Canada: 16–25 year-olds, certain provinces, language minorities, aboriginals and newly arrived immigrants; Poland: 19–26 year-olds; Czech Republic: 16–29 year-olds.

^fComputed as the ratio of the number of respondents and the size of the sample frame.

Table 2. Proportions^a that did not take the skill assessment tests, due to language difficulties; partitioned according to whether or not they were assigned imputed scores^b.

Country	Respondents that did not take the skill tests, %	Whereof: with imputed scores %	Whereof: without imputed scores (non-response) %
Denmark	5.4	5.0	0.4
Finland	6.1	6.1	0.0
Norway	6.8	4.6	2.2
Sweden	5.9	5.9	0.0
PIAAC average^c	4.8	2.8	2.0

Source: OECD (2013b, Table 3.10).

^aWeighted so as to reflect population shares.

^bThe imputed scores concern literacy and numeracy skills, no scores were imputed with respect to PS-TRE skills.

^cThe Russian Federation is not included in the PIAAC average as the data from the Russian Federation are preliminary and do not include the population in the Moscow area.

Table 3. Mean scores for the Nordic countries and for an average of all countries that participated in PIAAC 2011–2012 (standard errors in parentheses).

Country	Literacy^b	Numeracy^b	PS-TRE skills^c
Denmark	270.8 (0.62)	278.3 (0.73)	283.1 (0.68)
Finland	287.5 (0.67)	282.2 (0.70)	289.4 (0.83)
Norway	278.4 (0.61)	278.3 (0.79)	286.5 (0.57)
Sweden	279.2 (0.68)	279.1 (0.82)	287.8 (0.65)
PIAAC average^a	272.4 (0.76)	268.8 (0.82)	282.8 (0.89)

Source: OECD (2013a) and own computations.

^aAustralia, Cyprus and the Russian Federation are not included in the PIAAC averages with respect literacy and numeracy. Access to data for Australia requires permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The Cypriote data have been withdrawn by the OECD. The data for the Russian Federation are preliminary and do not include the Moscow area. The PIAAC average with respect to PS-TRE skills further does not include Italy, France, and Spain, as these countries (like Cyprus) opted out of the test of PS-TRE skills.

^bThe scores are set on a scale between 0 and 500. They correspond to six skill levels: Below level 1 < 176, 176 ≤ Level 1 < 226, 226 ≤ Level 2 < 276, 276 ≤ Level 3 < 326, 326 ≤ Level 4 < 376, 376 ≤ Level 5.

^cThe scores are set on a scale between 0 and 500. They correspond to four skill levels: Below level 1 < 241, 241 ≤ Level 1 < 291, 291 ≤ Level 2 < 341, 341 ≤ Level 3.

Table 4. Mean scores for immigrants and natives in the Nordic countries and an average of all the countries that participated in PIAAC 2011–2012 (standard errors in parentheses).

Skill Country	Foreign born	Thereof: immigrated at age 6+	Thereof: immigrated before age 6	Natives	Natives + foreign born immigrated before age 6
Literacy
Denmark	237.6 (1.96)	232.6 (1.98)	264.3 (5,64)	275.2 (0.66)	275.0 (0.64)
Finland	239.5 (4.13)	230.2 (4.84)	289.2 (8.14)	290.6 (0.65)	290.6 (0.66)
Norway	245.4 (2.55)	241.2 (2.79)	286.2 (6.51)	283.6 (0.62)	283.6 (0.61)
Sweden	235.0 (1.85)	227.7 (2.08)	278.2 (4.93)	288.7 (0.78)	288.4 (0.78)
PIAAC average^a	247.8 (4.09)	243.3 (4.30)	273.0 (7.82)	275.7 (0.78)	275.6 (0.78)
Numeracy
Denmark	245.4 (2.18)	241.4 (2.31)	266.6 (6.04)	282.7 (0.78)	282.3 (0.77)
Finland	233.5 (3.95)	224.4 (4.89)	282.6 (9.42)	285.3 (0.71)	285.3 (0.71)
Norway	238.1 (3.13)	233.4 (3.41)	284.3 (8.03)	284.6 (0.76)	284.6 (0.75)
Sweden	232.7 (1.89)	226.0 (2.10)	272.5 (5.37)	288.9 (0.93)	288.5 (0.91)
PIAAC average^a	241.9 (4.29)	237.6 (4.83)	266.0 (8.74)	272.1 (0.85)	272.0 (0.84)
PS-TRE
Denmark	269.1 (2.30)	266.4 (2.45)	278.8 (4.74)	284.4 (0.70)	284.3 (0.68)
Finland	275.8 (4.67)	270.8 (5.31)	291.5 (8.08)	290.0 (0.87)	290.0 (0.85)
Norway	269.1 (2.61)	266.1 (2.79)	292.2 (6.66)	288.6 (0.61)	288.7 (0.59)
Sweden	260.4 (2.14)	255.1 (2.57)	281.9 (4.59)	292.2 (0.68)	291.9 (0.66)
PIAAC average^a	270.3 (5.61)	264.2 (5.79)	286.7 (9.33)	284.3 (0.93)	284.2 (0.91)

Source: Own computations.

^aAustralia, Cyprus and the Russian Federation are not included in the PIAAC average. Access to data for Australia requires permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The Cypriote data have been withdrawn by the OECD. The data for the Russian Federation are preliminary and do not include the Moscow area. The PIAAC average with respect to PS-TRE skills further does not include Italy, France, and Spain, as these countries (like Cyprus) opted out of the test of PS-TRE skills. Finally, the partition of the PIAAC averages into those that immigrated before and after age 6 does not include Germany, as Germany does not report any information about age at immigration.

Table 6. Differences in mean scores between natives and (full) populations. Relative differences, in % of population scores, in parentheses. Effect sizes for differences between natives and immigrants.

Skill Country	Difference between natives^c and population^d		Effect size for native – immigrant difference^e	Standard deviation, in score points (for effect size computations)
Literacy				Natives	Immigrants
Denmark	4.4** ^f	(1.6)	0.82	43.5	62.4
Finland	2.9**	(1.1)	1.04	47.2	73.1
Norway	5.1**	(1.9)	0.85	42.0	61.8
Sweden	9.4**	(3.4)	1.16	41.6	63.8
PIAAC average^a	3.3**	(1.2)	0.62	44.0	54.6
Numeracy
Denmark	4.4**	(1.6)	0.75	47.4	64.7
Finland	3.0**	(1.1)	1.02	48.8	74.8
Norway	6.2**	(2.3)	0.90	47.7	73.0
Sweden	9.8**	(3.5)	1.11	45.8	68.6
PIAAC average^a	3.3**	(1.2)	0.61	48.4	59.9
PS-TRE
Denmark	1.8**	(0.5)	0.36	41.8	45.4
Finland	0.8**	(0.2)	0.33	42.1	47.2
Norway	2.6**	(0.7)	0.49	38.6	48.3
Sweden	5.6**	(1.5)	0.74	41.5	48.8
PIAAC average^b	1.8*	(0.5)	0.33	41.6	46.0

Source: Own computations.

^aAustralia, Cyprus and the Russian Federation are not included in the PIAAC averages with respect literacy and numeracy. Access to data for Australia requires permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The Cypriote data have been withdrawn by the OECD. The data for the Russian Federation are preliminary and do not include the Moscow area.

^bRelative to the PIAAC average with respect literacy and numeracy, the PIAAC average for PS-TRE skills further does not include Italy, France, and Spain, as these countries (like Cyprus) opted out of the test of PS-TRE skills.

^cFrom Table 4.

^dFrom Table 3.

^eThe effect size, Cohen’s d, for country j, has been computed according to:$d_j=\left[m\left(P_{j,n}\right)\text{–}m\left(P_{j,i}\right)\right]/\{{\alpha }_j\cdot {\left[s\left(P_{j,i}\right)\right]}^2+\left(1\text{–}{\alpha }_j\right)\cdot {\left[s\left(P_{j,n}\right)\right]}^2{\}}^{1/2}$

where m(P_j,n) and m(P_j,i) denote mean scores among country j’s natives and immigrants, respectively (from Table 4), α_j its immigrant share, and s(P_j,i) and s(P_j,n) denote the standard deviations, in score points, for the immigrants and the natives, respectively. The latter shall not be confused with s[m(P_j,i)] and s[m(P_j,n)] which denote the standard errors in the mean scores of country j’s immigrants and natives, respectively.

^fThe symbols * and ** indicate statistical significance at the significance levels 5 and 1%, respectively.

Table 7. Mean ranks and confidence intervals^a, in square brackets, for the Nordic countries among the countries that participated in PIAAC 2011–2012, by skill and for natives and (full) populations, respectively.

Skill Country	Rank based on scores among natives only		Rank based on (full) population scores
Literacy^b
Denmark	11	[8,13]	13	[11,14]
Finland	2	[2,2]	2	[2,3]
Norway	5	[5,5]	5	[4,5]
Sweden	4	[2,4]	4	[4,4]
Numeracy^b
Denmark	7	[5,7]	6	[4,6]
Finland	4	[2,4]	2	[2,2]
Norway	5	[3,5]	6	[4,7]
Sweden	1	[1,1]	5	[3,6]
PS-TRE^c
Denmark	9	[6,10]	8	[5,10]
Finland	3	[2,4]	2	[1,2]
Norway	4	[3,4]	4	[2,4]
Sweden	2	[1,2]	3	[2,3]

Source: Own computations.

^aAccording to the simulation method suggested by Leckie and Goldstein (2011); briefly explained in the main text.

^bThe ranking is based on the 21 countries for which there are literacy and numeracy scores.

^cThe ranking is based on the 18 countries for which there are PS-TRE scores.

Table 8. Similarities and differences among the Nordic countries with respect to immigration and the adult skills measured in PIAAC.

Similarities		Differences
1	Native born individuals constitute good approximation of residents that have had all their education and training in the country.	Immigrant population shares; vary from 5.7% in FI to 17.5% in SE.
2	The mean scores of all immigrants taken together are markedly lower than the mean native scores. For literacy and numeracy, effect sizes > 0.6.	Mean scores of immigrants that immigrated before age 6, compared to mean native scores; no significant differences in FI and NO, but significantly lower in DK and SE.
3	Mean score differences between the countries’ natives and their full populations are positive and significant, but small (<10 points, or 3.5% of mean population scores).	Country rankings based on natives vs full populations; no significant rank differences in DK, FI, and NO, while for SE rank in numeracy significantly better for natives (1) than for population (5).

Note: The acronyms DK, FI, NO, and SE denote Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, respectively.

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