Only 9 Percent of Immigrant Women Found Jobs – After State-Funded Integration Program

Among immigrants, women are the group with the lowest employment rates. On closer examination, it appears that nearly half of African women are considered non-self-sufficient. The reason for this being related to culture and norms is an idea an integration specialist does not agree with.

Thomas Liebig, an integration specialist and German analyst at the OECD, says he often encounters the opinion that foreign-born women’s low labor market participation is linked to culture and norms, but he does not believe this is true.

The situation for immigrant women within the OECD is the same as in Sweden, and according to new figures from Kunskapsverket, foreign-born women earn an average of 282,000 SEK per year compared to 354,000 for men. It takes roughly 20 years before women begin to catch up. For those from Africa or Asia, over 40 percent are considered non-self-sufficient.

In a survey, women in various countries were faced with the statement: “When jobs are scarce, men should have priority in getting jobs.” Here, a major difference emerged between women born in Sweden and foreign-born women – 2 and 10 percent respectively answered yes.

If you look at how women in Eastern and Southern European countries responded, the difference is even starker – there, 40 to 50 percent of native-born women answered yes.

According to Liebig, this means that immigrants in Sweden have more gender-equal attitudes than native-born populations in 80 percent of European countries, and much indicates that people adapt to the norms in the country.

Sweden has one of the highest proportions of working women in the world. Even though the gap between Swedish-born and foreign-born women in the labor market is large, Sweden is still one of the OECD countries where foreign-born women are employed to the greatest extent.

Structures

According to Thomas Liebig, it’s more about structures than culture, and Sweden is considered strong in areas such as having a well-developed childcare system. At the same time, other structures seem to have the opposite effect.

A report from the Swedish Women’s Organizations examined what happened to women who came to Sweden during the migrant crisis in 2015. They found that one factor above all determined whether immigrants found work – gender.

It is primarily women with low education who struggle to enter the labor market, but that is not the whole explanation. Instead, it is said to depend more on what newly arrived men and women are offered when they come here.

According to Chief Economist Beatrice Nordling, it makes very little difference whether women are highly or poorly educated. She argues that women received fewer, cheaper, worse, and later labor market measures than men. The most effective efforts are internships and subsidized jobs, which the majority went to men.

Stereotypes and norms

Other factors that Nordling highlights are gender stereotypes and norms, which affect how cases are handled and assessed by the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen).

At the same time, the majority of immigrant women are not entitled to participate in the two-year integration program as they are not themselves refugees, but have married either a Swedish citizen who has themselves immigrated, or a labor migrant.

– It’s a whole chain of different disadvantaging events that make women end up further away from the labor market, says Beatrice Nordling to Svenska Dagbladet.

Nine percent went on to jobs

The integration program is a state-sponsored two-year program for newly arrived migrants with the aim that they learn Swedish, find a job, and support themselves.

Between 2010 and 2021, 200,000 people participated. Of these, an average of 26 percent of men went on to employment, but only nine percent of women did.

Today, foreign-born women are the largest group among the long-term unemployed at the Public Employment Service, and a significant proportion are born outside Europe.