Integration is described by many societal stakeholders and by media as one of the major contemporary challenges facing society in Sweden. In this research overview, the authors look at one theme concerning integration: becoming established in the labour market, with a focus on newly-arrived immigrants.
Highly-skilled new arrivals risk ending up in jobs for which they are over-qualified, and they do not have the same opportunities to pursue a career or develop in the same way as their colleagues who were born in Sweden. Low-skilled new arrivals, on the other hand, tend to be unable to move on from low-paid, precarious jobs. Several studies have highlighted these and other challenges associated with the integration of new arrivals into the Swedish labour market and have suggested solutions. But more research is still needed into how these processes are organised in everyday life and what the consequences are for new arrivals.
The purpose of this research overview is to highlight challenges, as well as opportunities to facilitate integration.
