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Employment Disparities

An increasing number of Syrian immigrants are finding that job opportunities are few and far in between. However, because of the asylum-seeking rules in Europe, even refugees that hope to try a different country must stay in their country of arrival. While a common cause of concern for Europeans is that immigrants are taking too many jobs, perhaps they should be more concerned that they are not taking enough of them. While Sweden and the Netherlands have strong economies, they have the widest employment rate gaps between immigrants and non-immigrants of all OECD states. Before even 163,000 asylum seekers that arrived in Sweden in 2015, the difference in employment rate was around 15% for those in between the ages of 15-64. For Swedes, 79% of this age group were employed while it was a mere 64% for foreign-born residents. When comparing native-born Swedes to non-EU immigrants, the employment gap between the two groups is even higher at 22.5%. The significance of this statistic is evident when contrasted with the U.S., where native-born Americans are around 2.5% more likely to be unemployed than immigrants.

There are a couple speculations as to why Sweden is an anomaly in these arenas. First of all, between 2003 and 2012, one fifth of the permanent migrants into Sweden were considered humanitarian migrants. This is a higher percentage than all other OECD countries and likely plays a role in the employment gaps as humanitarian migrants typically find it more difficult to integrate into OECD countries. Second of all, less than 5% of jobs in Sweden require only a high school degree. With migrants from Syria and Iraq almost certainly having never studied Swedish back home, it is inevitably difficult for them to find work. Considering they are among the top three countries of immigrant origin alongside Finland, correlation between their employment rates and that of all Swedish migrants is high.

In order to help mend this gap, the OECD assessed employment patterns within Sweden in 2004 and recommended enhancing language and vocational training. By December 2010, discussions of integration policies were rampant and a new law had passed. This law, under the aegis of the public employment service, aimed to increase the focus of the market towards introduction activities. Clearly, there continues to be more room for change, which is why in April of 2014, a workshop was held in Stockholm for expert peer reviewers of fellow OECD countries. They identified 7 key themes that Sweden should focus on. These themes were: Swedish language for adults, recognition, employer demand, discrimination, job search, school-to-work transitions, and lastly co-ordination among actors. Still, of the 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015, only 500 landed a job.

Changing Gender Demographics

Record keeping of gender demographics began in 1749 in Sweden and remarkably, 2015 broke the streak that has held ever since the beginning: it finally has more men than women. Between March 2015 and May 2016, the disparity between men and women changed from 277 to a startling 12,000.The same trend began in Norway in 2011. For Sweden, this is mostly attributed to two factors. The first is the increasing life expectancy of males, as there’s already a natural birth rate of around 105 males for every 100 females. The second, is the role that immigrants have been playing in Sweden’s demographics. After all, in 2015, the immigration surplus accounted for 77% of Sweden’s 103,662 population surplus. More particularly, the arrival of tens of thousands of unaccompanied male teens within the last couple of years is making a tremendous impact. After all, 2015 had a record-breaking number of unaccompanied immigrants- 35,000. With one birth in Sweden every four minutes, one death every six, and one net migrant ever 13, the male population is likely to relatively have even higher numbers in the years to come.

Health

As aforementioned, immigrants in Sweden of non-European background report three to four times as often as Swedish natives that they suffer from poor or very poor health. This is particularly evident in regard to diminished work abilities and physical disabilities, but also in regard to anxiety and nervousness. However, the disparities between Swedish born and non-Swedish born residents’ health significantly diminished when adjusted for the social differences across groups. These include how common it would have been for that interviewee to have been a laborer, to rent instead of to own their living accommodation, and to have poorer economic resources than the average citizen. This suggests that the social living conditions play significant role in the health of immigrants in Sweden.[Insert Medicine] Furthermore, the reason for abnormally high levels of mental illness could be based on the experiences of the refugees, in conjunction with the added stresses of the asylum process. Furthermore, poorer health can also likely be contributed to the fact that a decade is typically necessary for a refugee or immigrant to have the same living conditions of a native Swede. Finally, simply perceiving discrimination may also play a role in the high mental health illness rate among immigrants.