Impacts of the Level of Swedish Language Knowledge on Refugees’ Employment and Occupational Matching

Abstract: The aim of the research is to explore which level or levels of knowledge in the Swedish language can enhance the employment and/or occupational matching possibilities for refugees in Sweden.Methodology: This study conducts a quantitative research approach, Primary data was used, an online survey was distributed among a sample of Syrian refugees (defined as who were born outside Sweden with 0-9 years of residence in Sweden). Non-probability sampling by means of volunteer, snowball, and convenient sampling were used in order to collect the data, 112 valid responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, reliability, multiple linear regression, multivariate analysis of variance and hierarchical multiple regression analyses.Findings: it is found that the relationships between the knowledge in Swedish language and employment either occupational matching are statistically significant. However, there are no significant relationships between the level of knowledge in Swedish language and employment and occupational matching. Moreover, demographic variables had hardly any influence on the employment and occupational. Nevertheless, the only effect has been observed is between the education variable and employment.Conclusion: Based on the findings of this research, it is detected that the level of the Swedish language does not play a considerable or notable impact on the refugees’ employment and/or occupational matching in Swedish labor market. So, attaining specific level in the Swedish language knowledge does not positively impact the refugees’ employment and/or occupational matching in Sweden.