General Versus Vocational Education and Employment Integration of Immigrants in Sweden

Abstract

This article investigates the effect of human capital on the employment acquisition of foreign-born men and women in Sweden. Besides categorizing different levels of education, a distinction is made between type of education, general and vocational, and where education is obtained, home or host country. The data used is based on register data for the year 2003 held by Statistics Sweden. The population under consideration is the total population subdivided by the following countries of birth: Sweden, Former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Romania, Chile, Germany, Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. The analysis shows that foreign-born individuals have a higher probability of employment with a vocational and host country education as opposed to a general and home country education.

KEYWORDS:

• immigrants
• employment acquisition
• human capital
• vocational education
• professional education

Inge Dahlstedt is a PhD candidate at Malmö University. Pieter Bevelander, PhD, is Associate Professor, and Researcher at Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare, Malmö University.

Notes

1. In Swedish also referred to as a guild, business or industry.

2. This figure is based on responses to a survey sent to people between 26 and 45 years of age who had migrated to Sweden during the period 1991–1997 and had an academic education of three years or more. The survey was also sent to a control group consisting of native-born people. The total sample of the survey was about 8,000 respondents.

3. Native-born men aged between 25 and 55 years.

4. The database is called LOUISE and consists of a number of register databases held by Statistics Sweden.

5. The “base value” or “basic amount” is geared to the price index and is decided annually by the government. It is constructed through the collective costs of a basket of selected goods and services. It can be seen as a representation of the “poverty level,” net of housing costs and the lowest sign of an individual's labor market attachment.

6. As stated earlier in the text, the definition of vocational education in the literature is rather broad. In order to narrow it down we use Statistics Sweden's’ definition of vocational education in our models and analysis. This definition states that vocational education at the secondary level includes educational programs where the students receive vocational and practical training. Secondary level general education is defined as theoretical education that prepare for university studies. At university level all educational programs that lead to a specific vocation are counted as vocational education, i.e. education where the students obtain a specific qualification or certificate. In this context general education is regarded as education leading to a general degree, such as a bachelor or masters degree (SUN 2000, Statistics Sweden).

7. Classification for immigrants when the authorities can not decide if the education is at the secondary or university level.

8. The results for men are barely significant. The results for the 11–19 years category are significant at the 0.1 level. The results for the 20–25 years category are insignificant. The results for the 26 years and older category are significant at the 0.01 level. For women, the results for the 11–19 years category are insignificant, while the other categories are significant at the 0.01 level.