Abstract
ABSTRACT Migrant integration is an issue at the forefront of political debates in many immigrant-receiving countries. Within academia, a rich body of neighbourhood effects literature examines the significance of the residential environment for the socioeconomic integration of international migrants. Another strand of research explores the associations between immigrants’ initial region of residence and their subsequent socioeconomic integration. Existing research focuses on a single dimension of geographical context and on the neighbourhood scale. Using Swedish longitudinal register data, we estimate discrete-time event history models to assess how regional and neighbourhood contexts influence refugees’ entry into employment. Our study includes all refugees who arrived in Sweden between 2000 and 2009, distinguishing between three categories of refugees: refugees with assigned housing, refugees with self-arranged housing and quota refugees. Our results reveal a clear pattern where the most advantageous regions for finding a first employment are those at the extremes of the population density distribution: the Stockholm region and small city/rural regions. Refugees residing in Malmö have the lowest probability of entering the labour market. Our study also reiterates existing concerns regarding the negative effects of ethnic segregation at the neighbourhood level on labour market participation.
Highlights
Migrant integration is an issue at the forefront of political and academic debates in many immigrant-receiving countries
It is important to note that the survival functions describe the proportion of refugees who have not found a first job by a certain point in time, and not the proportion who are not employed at that point in time
Given that the present study focuses on the relationship between geographical context and entry into employment, it is important to examine the distribution of the refugee population across geographical contexts
Summary
Migrant integration is an issue at the forefront of political and academic debates in many immigrant-receiving countries. It has become prominent in Sweden, as the country recently experienced a high influx of refugees, mainly coming from conflictaffected areas in Syria and Afghanistan. The significance of the residential environment for the socioeconomic integration of international migrants is analysed in a rich body of neighbourhood effects literature. Studies that analyse the effects of residential context usually focus on neighbourhoods, small geographical areas typically corresponding to census tracts. Existing research tends to focus on a single dimension of geographical context, such as immigration density or labour market conditions. There is a need for further research that jointly investigates multiple dimensions of migrants’ geographical context
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