Abstract
Middle East Arab diasporas, primarily the Iraqi and Syrian ones, are playing an increasing role in the economy and demography of Sweden. This study aims to describe the formation of economically active diasporas in Sweden over the past three decades. There has been a paradigm shift in the immigration and business activity of people from the Middle East Arab countries in Sweden. Diaspora leadership changes depending on the situation in the countries of origin and migration phenomena driven by political and military shocks. This change affects the migration process and the role of communities in the economic life of the country. The study draws on the work of top research centres and data from leading Swedish and international statistical agencies. The rise and subsequent decline in Syrian immigration, which included labour migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, did not restore the unconditional leadership of the Iraqis among the Arab communities of Sweden. The significant business activity of Syrian immigrants, their professional skills, level of education, and broad business ties make the diaspora a likely leader in the Arab community. These four factors also contribute to easier migrant integration into Swedish society.
Highlights
Most theories of labour-migration policy-making suggest that a country like Sweden, with its coordinated market economy, would prefer a highly selective labour-migration policy focusing on the highly skilled (Devitt 2011; Menz 2011)
We focus on three sets of variables describing the size, composition and employment outcomes for EU and non-EU labour migrants who moved to Sweden within the two years before and after the reform
We find that coming after the reform has a positive effect on income for EU labour migrants
Summary
Most theories of labour-migration policy-making suggest that a country like Sweden, with its coordinated market economy, would prefer a highly selective labour-migration policy focusing on the highly skilled (Devitt 2011; Menz 2011). The introduction of this laissez-faire labour-migration policy provides an excellent framework in which to study what happens when state control is withdrawn to a minimum and employers and potential employees are left to regulate the migration flows. We take this opportunity to treat the 2008 labour-migration reform as a natural experiment and investigate the effects of the policy change on post-reform labour migrants’ employment conditions in Sweden (Bill 2007/08:147). Based on register data and a difference-in-differences approach, we analyse the effects of this policy reform on the income of non-EU labour-migrant cohorts who arrived immediately before or immediately after the implementation of the new bill
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