Second chance education matters! Income trajectories of poorly educated non-Nordics in Sweden

Abstract

In this study we examine the long-term impact of second chance education (SCE) on incomes of poorly educated individuals who live in Sweden but were not born in a Nordic country, using data on income changes from 1992 to 2003 compiled by Statistics Sweden. Ordinary Least Squares regression analyses show that participation in SCE increased the work income of non-Nordics by a higher percentage than that of Nordics. The results also indicate that much of the effects of SCE on non-Nordics are related to increases in “Sweden-specific” human capital, rather than increases in their educational level per se, which seems to provide a form of ‘endowment insurance’ that improves their labour market position in Sweden. Relying on the theoretical framework of the Capability Approach, we conclude that such effects are related to the instrumental economic value of individuals’ capability to be educated, as well as the value of material well-being.

Keywords:

• sociology
• second chance education
• immigrants
• unemployment

Notes

1. According to Statistics Sweden (2008), among 30 year olds (2002–2006), 19–25% of the foreign-born individuals had only pre-high school education attainments. The corresponding share for Swedish-born individuals was about seven percent. More specifically, Lindgren (2002, 69) shows that, while the average level of education among migrants, as a composite group, is approximately the same as for native Swedes, the range is wider, since there are huge disparities between different migrant groups.

2. Robeyns (2006) maps the instrumental roles of education by considering two dimensions: the personal vs. collective, and the economic vs. non-economic. As a result, she distinguishes among: its instrumental personal economic role; its instrumental collective economic role; its non-economic personal instrumental role; and its non-instrumental collective role.

3. The choice of grouping the Nordic countries is because they (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland) belong to a Nordic language community (where at least one of the Nordic languages is spoken in each of the countries). Furthermore, the Nordic countries also share a similar history and the cultural differences are small. In this respect the labour market chances for the Nordic in Sweden should be rather similar. All other countries differ more in respect of language or/and history/culture and are from this perspective we argue individuals from a non-Nordic country are more likely to be exposed to labour market discrimination. Individuals born in any other country are therefore labelled as non-Nordics.

4. 100 SEK was equivalent to 9.31 Euro in May 2012.

5. We complemented the regression by performing a mediation analysis, which was not included in this manuscript. This clearly established that the achieved education level in 2003 almost completely mediates the relationship between SCE and income for Nordics. For non-Nordics, the mediating variable strengthened the effect of SCE on income in 2003.

6. The non-Nordic immigrants included in our selection must have at least a certain level of command of Swedish language to be able to participate to SCE. Our selection regards those with formal educational attainments. It is very likely that they first attended SFI and then continued to further SCE.

7. Immigrants’ apparently low level of education may be due, in some cases, to the difficulty in obtaining legal recognition in Sweden of the value of qualifications obtained in other countries (see Rydgren 2004).

8. New policy for the introduction of newly arrived immigrants in Sweden (2010). Fact Sheet in English. Available at: www.sweden.gov.se/content/1/c6/15/76/88/2e1d8725.pdf.