Ny rapport om asylsökande och nyanlända invandrares arbetsmarknadsintegration

Jag har, tillsammans med Pieter Bevelander, skrivit kapitlet om Sverige i rapporten From Refugees to Workers: Mapping Labour Market Integration Support Measures for Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in EU Member States.

Så här beskrivs rapporten på Bertelsmann Stiftungs hemsida:

The report sets out to provide a better understanding of the emerging challenges in policy targeting the labour-market integration of refugees. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access into employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries?

The study is based on nine detailed country case studies of the following EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.

Rapporten kan laddas ner här.

Min avhandling är klar och ska försvaras den 7 oktober

Idag spikade jag avhandlingen, och imorgon är det tre veckor till själva disputationen. Avhandlingen heter Paper planes: labour migration, integration policy and the state och samlar fyra publicerade artiklar med en nyskriven introduktion.

Det går att ladda ner avhandlingen här.

Information om disputationen, som är offentlig och öppen för alla intresserade, finns här.

Baksidetexten:

This dissertation collects four peer-reviewed articles that are published in academic journals. Two of the articles are about the multi-level governance of integration polices, and two study the effects of labour migration policies. The two topics are tied together by an introduction where a common theme of the articles is discussed – the role of the state. Based on the results of my four articles, I argue that the relevance of the state as a unit of analysis is still strong and impossible to ignore if one wants to understand the patterns of migration and the conditions which migrant newcomers face in their countries of residence. When the Swedish labour migration policy was changed, and the veto of the unions and the state (the Employment Service) was abolished, it enabled social networks and market forces to play out more freely, which led to an increase in labour migration. The Swedish 2008 labour migration policy was designed to solve labour shortages. However, the effect of the new law was mainly the creation of new opportunities for migrants to get work permits and visas to Sweden in order to apply for asylum or work in low-skilled jobs in sectors without labour shortages. Thus, state policies do matter, even if not always in the way in which policymakers intend them to. The state has also tightened its grip on local integration policies in both Denmark and Sweden, despite very different overall policies. Where Denmark´s civic integration policies have formed a tighter relationship between the state and the individual, the Swedish way has been to centralise and standardise integration services and reduce local policy autonomy.

Ny artikel om arbetskraftsinvandring

Nu har min nya artikel, med den något krångliga titeln Recruitment to Occupations with a Surplus of Workers: The Unexpected Outcomes of Swedish Demand-Driven Labour Migration Policy äntligen kommit ut. Den är publicerad i tidskriften International Migration.

Det är extra kul att den kommer ut just nu, då debatten om arbetskraftsinvandringen tagit ny fart i och med DELMI-antologin om ämnet. Här är sammanfattningen på engelska.

This article studies the outcomes of the 2008 labour-migration policy change in Sweden, when most state control was abolished and an employer-led selection was introduced. The main goal was to increase labour migration from third countries to occupational sectors experiencing labour shortages. The article compares the volume, composition and labour-market status of labour migrants who arrived before the change in the law with those who arrived after. Labour migrants from EU countries are used as a control group to assess any eventual influence from non-migration policy determinants. The main outcome of the policy change is that non-EU labour migration increased – an effect entirely due to the rise in labour migration to surplus occupations. Changes in the composition of the labour migrants explains why those who came after the law change have, on average, a worse labour market position.

Ny antologi om arbetskraftsinvandring till Sverige

Idag presenterar DELMI en ny antologi om arbetskraftsinvandring: Arbetskraft från hela världen, där jag skrivit ett kapitel tillsammans med Karin Magnusson. Det finns ett policy brief, och de excellenta redaktörerna, Catharina Calleman och Petra Herzfeld Olsson, har skrivit en DN-debattartikel med titeln "Reformera lagen om arbetskraftsinvandring".

Mitt och Karins kapitel handlar om högkvalificerad arbetskraftsinvandring till Sverige. Ambitionen är både att kartlägga dess omfattning och karaktär, och att bidra med en förklaring till varför den ser ut som den gör.

Vi konstaterar bland annat att den svenska politiken för arbetskraftsinvandring är mycket annorlunda jämfört med i andra länder då den inte riktar in sig på att attrahera högkvalificerade arbetskraftsinvandrare. Det är också få högkvalificerade som stannar i landet. Samtidigt är utbildningsnivån viktig för att förklara utfallet på arbetsmarknaden för arbetskraftsinvandrarna. Det är i stort sett bara de arbetskraftsinvandrare som har en minst treårig högskoleutbildning som har välbetalda jobb och arbetar inom bristyrken.

I våra avslutande reflektioner har vi några policyförslag som antologiredaktörerna inte valt att lyfta fram:

Det skulle vara relativt enkelt att förändra den svenska lagstiftningen så att en större andel av dem som arbetskraftsinvandrar är högkvalificerade och/eller kommer för att arbeta inom högkvalificerade yrken. Yrken där det finns ett stort överskott av tillgänglig arbetskraft skulle kunna spärras för arbetskraftsinvandring. Inom övriga yrken skulle en högre lägsta månadslön för arbetstillstånd än dagens nivå kunna införas, till exempel i nivå med medianlönen på svensk arbetsmarknad. Ytterligare en möjlighet är att kräva en viss utbildningsnivå för att få arbetstillstånd, t.ex. minst en treårig eftergymnasial utbildning. Möjligheten att direkt få permanenta uppehållstillstånd skulle också kunna bidra till att fler högkvalificerade invandrare väljer att komma till Sverige. För att kunna rekrytera arbetskraftsinvandrare till bristyrken med krav på legitimation och språkkunskaper, till exempel inom hälso- och sjukvård, behövs dock större insatser och regelförändringar.

Ny bok: The world’s most open country: Labour migration to Sweden after the 2008 law

I april gav Fores ut boken Världens öppnaste land. Nu kommer en engelsk version av boken ut på Malmö Högskola. Det är ingen direkt översättning eftersom vi passat på att visa lite mer av den statistik som vi tagit fram inom ramen av projektet om arbetskraftsinvandring till Sverige.

Jag har skrivit tre kapitel i boken. Först en inledning som beskriver arbetskraftsinvandringens historia, hur länder väljer arbetskraftsinvandrare samt hur den svenska lagen från 2008 ser ut. Det andra kapitlet visar vad som har hänt sedan lagen trädde i kraft: vem som kommer, var de flyttar och till vilka jobb. Tredje kapitlet undersöker om arbetskraftsinvandrarna kommer till bristyrken eller ej.

Boken The world´s most open country: Labour migration to Sweden after the 2008 law kan hämtas som pdf här.

Ny artikel om arbetskraftsinvandring

Nu går det att läsa min senaste artikel om arbetskraftsinvandring i Nordic Journal of Migration Research: Who Gets in and Why? The Swedish Experience with Demand Driven Labour Migration - Some Preliminary Results.

In 2008, the Swedish government liberalised the labour migration policy to a demand driven model without labour market tests. This article analyses the effects of the policy change on the labour migration inflow. The migrants consist of three major categories including those moving to: skilled jobs as computer specialists and engineers, low-skilled jobs in the private service sector and seasonal work in the berry picking industry. The article shows that the new model has produced a labour migration inflow that is better explained by the access of employers and migrants to transnational networks rather than actual demand for labour.

Boken om arbetskraftsinvandring har kommit

Igår var det lansering på FORES för den nya boken om arbetskraftsinvandring, Världens öppnaste land, skriven av mig, Pieter Bevelander, Karin Magnusson och Sayaka Osanami Törngren. Mitt kapitel undersöker hur den nya lagen om arbetskraftsinvandring påverkat arbetskraftsinvandringen till Sverige. Boken går att ladda hem på FORES hemsida.

Analysen visar bland annat att:

•Få arbetskraftsinvandrare stannar i Sverige.

•De som stannar arbetar ofta inom yrken där det finns ett överskott på arbetskraft.

•Många har ingen eller låg lön.

•Det har inte skett någon ökning av arbetskraftsinvandring till bristyrken.

Nytt bokkapitel om Sveriges migrations- och integrationspolitik

I dagarna kommer boken European Immigration: A Sourcebook (second edition) ut. Antologin innehåller analyser av 28 länders migrations- och integrationspolitik. Jag har skrivit kapitlet om Sverige där jag sammanfattar Sveriges migrations- och integrationspolitik och landets erfarenheter av invandring. I sammanfattningen konstaterar jag bland annat:

Sweden is still, in many ways, an exceptional case in terms of migration and integration policy. It is, compared to other countries, relatively easy to immigrate to Sweden as a humanitarian, family or labour migrant. Once in the country, the immigrant basically has access to the same rights as a Swedish citizen. This migration regime has strong political support, despite a common understanding that integration itself has failed.

Nytt working paper: Labour migration in a Time of Crisis: Results of the New Demand-Driven Labour Migration System in Sweden

Pappret analyserar arbetskraftsinvandringen till Sverige efter 2008 års reform och baseras på Migrationsverkets statistik över arbetstillstånd, intervjuer med experter och litteraturstudier.


Abstract

In the midst of the ongoing financial crisis in 2008, the Swedish government decided to liberalize the labour migration policy from third countries. After several decades of having a restrictive system, the country now has one of the most open labour migration systems in the world. In this paper I review the outcome of the policy and offer some tentative explanations about why we have seen this specific outcome in the Swedish case. The result is an increase of labour migration, but it is to a large part due to immigration to sectors with a surplus of workers. The labour migrants can roughly be divided into three major categories: those moving to skilled jobs, low skilled jobs and seasonal workers in the berry picking industry. The demand driven system has produced a specific labour migration pattern which is better explained by employer’s access to transnational networks than actual demand for labour. Many sectors with a large surplus of native workers have experienced major inflows while employers in other sectors with labour shortages don´t recruit from third countries. The policy outcome also highlights the need to analyse and explain different categories of labour migration separately as they are a result of different driving forces.

Kan hämtas här.

Ny publikation: Migration, Employment and Labour Market Integration Policies in the European Union (2011)

Hösten 2012 skrev jag en text till IOM om vad som hänt de senaste åren i Sverige när det gäller migration, arbetsmarknadsintegration och utvecklingen av migrations- och integrationspolitik. En förkortad version av texten är nu publicerad som en "country case study" i rapporten Migration, Employment and Labour Market Integration Policies in the European Union (2011).

Så här beskrivs rapporten av IOM:

The IOM LINET study Migration, Employment and Labour Market Integration Policies in the European Union (2011) analyses recent trends in labour migration and the labour market position of migrants, reflects on the possible impact of these trends on employment and the national labour markets, and relates these findings to the relevant legislative, institutional and policy developments. It covers, to the extent of data availability, new data and analysis for the year 2011.

Hela rapporten kan laddas ner här.

Ny publikation om arbetskraftsinvandring

International Organization for Migration (IOM) har nyligen gett ut rapporten Improving Access to Labour Market Information for Migrants and Employers. I rapporten har jag och Karin Magnusson skrivit kapitlet om Sverige som handlar om arbetskraftsinvandring och arbetsmarknadsinformation, dvs. hur potentiella arbetskraftsinvandrare och svenska arbetsgivare finner varandra. Det finns också ett avsnitt om matchning mellan invandrare som redan finns i Sverige och arbetsgivare. Kapitlet kan också läsas som en slags uppföljning av lagen om arbetskraftsinvandring som trädde i kraft den 1 december 2008, där vi sammanfattar vad som hänt sedan dess och hur forskningslitteraturen och berörda aktörer bedömer effekterna av lagen.

Vår sammanfattning ser ut så här:

New rules for labour migration came into force in December 2008 with the aim to introduce a demand-driven labour migration system. Now it is the employer, not state agencies, that determines the need for labour. There are no restrictions in regard to occupational categories or sectors and there are no quantitative restrictions in the form of quotas. The main condition is that the level of pay is in line with applicable collective agreements and general insurance conditions.

The number of labour migrants from third countries was between 13,600 and 14,800 from 2009 to 2011. The labour migrants can roughly be divided into three major categories: skilled, low-skilled and seasonal. Many of the migrants work in occupations with a need for labour. This especially applies to computing professionals, engineers and technicians but also seasonal migrants in the berry-picking industry. At the same time, many migrants come to work in the service sector where there is a big surplus of available workers.

There are many advantages of a demand-driven labour migration system like the Swedish one, but also some shortcomings. The most obvious advantage is its simplicity. The system is the same for all forms of labour migration and for all sectors and occupations. The waiting times are, despite some complaints from employers and employees, short in an international context. The system also provides great flexibility for employers. Companies can quickly respond to all forms of labour demand, especially larger companies who are certified and given priority by the Migration Board.

The problem is that it is virtually only larger companies with access to international networks that can utilize the system’s advantages. With the exception of employers with a foreign background, small and medium-sized companies have a hard time finding potential employees. Much needs to be done if employers and employees without international networks are going to be able to find each other. The excellent information at www.workinginsweden.se, about why and how to move to Sweden and how to apply for work permits, needs to be complemented with a centralized portal with actual job vacancies directed to potential employees in third countries. Another issue is that the system, which is supposed to be driven by demand, actually allows for a substantial labour migration to sectors and occupations with a large surplus of native workers. Labour migration in those sectors and occupations too often involves problems with sham contracts and the exploitation of migrant workers.

Since the state has handed over the responsibility for matching to the market, there is no room for cooperation between origination and destination countries such as international agreements, organized pre-departure training and educational programmes. This makes it virtually impossible to recruit personnel to shortage occupations, for example doctors and nurses, who require training and supplementary education in order to work in Sweden.

Rapporten kan hämtas här.