The Assimilation of Scandinavian Immigrants in Sweden : How do immigrants from Norway and Denmark assimilate to the Swedish income level and is the assimilation negative?

Abstract: This essay analyses the earnings between Scandinavian immigrants compared to the Swedish natives (Scandinavia refers to Denmark, Norway and Sweden). The researchers have up until today devoted considerable effort to describe the phenomenon involving the positive assimilation, but never taken the time to analyse the appearance of the opposite outcome. The main objective of this essay is to observe if we can detect a case of negative assimilation among the Scandinavian immigrants in Sweden. The reason this paper is focused on Scandinavia is mainly because of the transferability of human capital that these ethnic groups hold, compared to the Swedish natives, with their cultural and linguistic consistency. An empirical analysis has been conducted using OLS on a pooled data sample for immigrants from Norway and Denmark entering the Swedish labour market. Our results show that there is a negative assimilation among the male immigrants at a linear pace. This was observed with the appearance of an initial higher income level than the natives, which implied a regression towards the mean. Among the females no observable assimilation pattern could be detected and they had an entry disadvantage upon arrival in Sweden.