An EU-regulated supplementary survey (Ad Hoc module) to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) has been used to compare how factors such as educational attainment, language skills affect employment. Comparisons are made between native and foreign born for year 2021 and differences between Sweden and the other countries in the European Union (EU) as an average are highlighted.

Fewer foreign born outside the labour force Sweden

The report shows that employment was higher among native born people than among foreign born people, this applies to both Sweden and the EU. The proportion of employed foreign born persons was higher in Sweden than the EU average. Unemployment was higher among foreign born in both Sweden and the EU. In Sweden, on the other hand, the difference in unemployment between native and foreign born was considerably larger, 4.4 compared with 18.4 percent. Within the EU, the unemployment rate for native and foreign born people was 4.8 and 8.6 percent, respectively. One explanation for why unemployment among foreign born people was so much higher in Sweden may be the labor force participation rate. Within the EU, just over one in four foreign born people were outside the labour force, while the corresponding number in Sweden was 13.5 percent.

Faster into employment

The results of the EU-LFS module 2021 indicate that the time until foreign born persons get their first job is shorter in Sweden compared to the EU. There may be other factors that affect this result, for instance in Sweden registered residents are included in the LFS, while in other countries everyone who lives in a certain area is interviewed.

A big difference between Sweden and the EU in terms of time until the first job is the proportion of people who never had a job in the new country. In the EU, about one in five of the foreign born never had a job in the country of residence. In Sweden, instead, 8.1 percent of foreign born never had a job.

Higher education provides higher employment

The proportion of employed persons was higher among both native and foreign born in Sweden compared to the EU, but the difference in employment varied to a great extent depending on the educational attainment, especially in Sweden. Employment rate was at its highest, in both Sweden and the EU, among those with university or college education. In Sweden and the EU, 80.7 and 76.2 percent of foreign born with higher education, respectively, were employed. This compares with 90.9 percent and 86.4 percent among the native born people in Sweden and the EU.

A big difference between Sweden and the EU was the level of employment for native and foreign born people with lower secondary education as their highest education level. In Sweden, there was a large difference in the proportion of employed persons between native and foreign born persons with lower secondary education. Among the native born persons, 67.9 percent were employed, while the same proportion was 49.0 percent among foreign born persons. In the EU, employment rate among those with a lower secondary education was lower than among the others, but the differences between native and foreign born were small. Among those who had a lower secondary education, the share of employed persons in the EU was 54.7 percent among native born and 56.5 percent among foreign born.

The parents' educational attainment also affected employment, especially for foreign born people in Sweden. In both Sweden and the EU, employment rate was lower among foreign born with parents with lower secondary education as their highest education level, but the difference compared to native born was greater in Sweden. Of those with parents with lower secondary education as their highest education, 58.8 percent of foreign born people were employed, compared with 84.4 percent of the native born people. In the EU, the same proportions were 62.0 percent and 66.3 percent respectively.

Language a greater obstacle in Sweden

There was a higher proportion of foreign born people who stated language as an obstacle to getting employment in Sweden than in the EU. In Sweden, 14.3 percent of women and 10.8 percent of men stated a lack of language skills as an obstacle to getting a suitable job. In the EU, the same proportions were 6.2 and 5.8 percent respectively. On the other hand, if one look at the self-assessed knowledge of the main language in the country, there was not much difference between the EU and Sweden, where about 60 percent considered themselves to know the main language at advanced or native language level. In Sweden, it was much more common than in the EU to have participated in a language course in the main language. In Sweden, 60.6 percent had attended a language course, while the same proportion in the EU was 34.9 percent.

A more detailed report on the labour market situation is available in the publication Labour force surveys (LFS) 2023:1 – Theme: Labour market for foreign born in Sweden and the EU.

2023-04-26, 08:00.