Trajectories of Newly Arrived Migrants in the Swedish Introduction Program

Elin Ennerberg

doi:10.16993/njtcg.33

Abstract

In a 2010 policy reform, the centre-right Swedish government attempted to bring the area of integration policy into closer alignment with labour market policy for newly arrived migrants. In this paper, empirical data gathered from 181 individual case files from the Public Employment Service (PES) is used to analyse the different trajectories of migrants. I construct a typology of five different sub-groups to explore how migrants manage the different challenges of the policy program. The main contribution of the article is to highlight the individual differences among the group and how various strategies are formed within the same policy framework.

Highlights

Active labour market policy has been an important instrument in Sweden for combining economic growth and the inclusion of different groups in the labour market (e.g., Dahlstedt, 2009; Lundqvist, 2015; Montan, 1988; Nycander, 2008), in a sense foreshadowing more recent Anglo-American and European trends of workfare or activation (Brodkin & Larsen, 2013)
These changes can be interpreted as marking a rhetorical shift regarding how the needs of Ennerberg: Trajectories of Newly Arrived Migrants in the Swedish Introduction Program newly arrived migrants should be met, with labour market participation being prioritised over other needs associated with integration and settlement (Ennerberg, 2017; Larsson, 2015)
By summarising the different ideal types developed from material, I will show the heterogeneity of this group and point to some particular difficulties that exemplify the needs and capabilities of the group as seen in some of the cases

Summary

Introduction

Active labour market policy has been an important instrument in Sweden for combining economic growth and the inclusion of different groups in the labour market (e.g., Dahlstedt, 2009; Lundqvist, 2015; Montan, 1988; Nycander, 2008), in a sense foreshadowing more recent Anglo-American and European trends of workfare (labour market policy with rules to receive benefits) or activation (Brodkin & Larsen, 2013). In contemporary European welfare states, social investment (investing in people and giving support) has been put forward as a policy initiative aiming to include different groups into the labour market (de la Porte & Jacobsson, 2012; Kvist, 2015) One of these targeted groups is newly arrived migrants, where labour market and integration policy in the Nordic countries have often been combined through specific introduction programs. One of the greatest challenges in Swedish labour market policy is described as unemployment among certain “vulnerable groups”, which include individuals with lower level of education, the unemployed with disabilities, the age category 55–64 years of age, and individuals born outside of Europe (Arbetsförmedlingen, 2015) As these groups make up a growing part of the unemployed, targeted labour market measures have in recent years been developed. Migrants with a refugee background still struggle to enter the labour market quickly (Eriksson, Hensvik, & Nordstöm Skans, 2017; European Union, 2016; Forslund, Liljeberg, & Åslund, 2017; SCB, 2018) and labour market participation as well as income remain lower than for the general working population, even in longterm perspective (Forslund et al, 2017, p. 24)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion