Challenges faced by non-EU immigrants in the Swedish labour market - A Secondary Analysis

Abstract: Immigrants in Sweden are often problematized in political and media debates especially in relation to lack of integration into the labor market. This study is based on secondary data analysis on the challenges that highly educated non-EU immigrants face in the process of integration into the Swedish labor market. Previous knowledge on the topic was found at the Malmö and Lund University Libraries and their databases. The aim of this study is to identify the challenges for non-EU immigrants to integrate into Swedish labor market, and to find out if the jobs they get is compatible to their academic qualifications obtained from their home countries. Also, it is to identify measures taken by the government to facilitate immigrants’ access to the labor market. The theories I used in this study are integration, human capital, and discrimination. The findings revealed that, poor knowledge of the Swedish language, lack of social network, discrimination and lack of recognition of immigrant’s educational qualifications were the main obstacles faced by highly educated immigrants from integrating into the labor market. Also, the findings reveal that the job positions of the highly educated immigrants in the Swedish labor market were lower than the educational qualifications they have from their countries of origin. In addition, the government had identified some of these challenges and have discussed plans for possible policy development to tackle these challenges.