Occupational Mobility for Immigrants in Sweden

MOBILITÉ PROFESSIONNELLE DES IMMIGRÉS EN SUÈDE
À l'aide de données uniques provenant du programme Marché du travail pour les immigrants, Compétences linguistiques et Réseau social, fondées sur des entretiens avec quatre groupes d'immigrants réfugiés (Éthiopiens /Érythréens, Chiliens, Iraniens et Roumains / Hongrois), l'auteur analyse la mobilité professionnelle en comparant la profession dans le pays d'origine, la première profession en Suède et la mobilité professionnelle au cours des quinze premières années en Suède. D'après cette étude, la mobilité professionnelle suit une courbe en U: pour beaucoup de gens, le premier métier exercé en Suède a un statut inférieur à celui exercé dans le pays d'origine. Cette situation peut s'expliquer par l'absence de transférabilité internationale du capital humain et/ou par la discrimination. Par la suite, le statut professionnel connaît une mobilité ascendante. La courbe en U est plus marquée pour les réfugiés qui jouissaient d'un statut professionnel élevé dans leur pays d'origine. La mobilité ascendante est également plus forte chez les réfugiés qui ont suivi un enseignement supérieur en Suède et chez ceux qui ont appris à parler couramment le suédois.     

Immigrants in the Old‐Age Pension System: The Case of Sweden

The article investigates incomes and especially state pensions 2008 among elderly immigrants who arrived in Sweden before 1970. At age 70 and above, the level of state old‐age pension for immigrant men was nearly the same and for immigrant women somewhat higher than for natives with similar characteristics. At age 65–66 the state pension was lower for immigrants than for their native counterparts. The differences in pensions for immigrants of different ages are probably due to changed rules in the Swedish state old‐age pension system from 2003. The new rules have hit different age groups in different ways. The gaps are partially levelled out when other incomes are included. The extent to which levelling occurs varies greatly between different immigrant groups. For immigrants who have arrived during the last decades, the future state old‐age pension outcomes are expected to be worse.

Policy Implications

• The Swedish Pensions Agency should set up a register of pensions from abroad. This will tell us to what extent old‐age pensions from the home country compensate for low old‐age pensions from the Swedish system.
• Better integration on the labour market is a powerful measure for reducing the risk of future low pensions among immigrants. This is a challenge for Swedish integration policy.
• To what extent can other parts of the Swedish welfare system in the future compensate individuals with low old‐age pensions?

     

The Integration of Immigrants in Northern Sweden: A Case Study of the Municipality of Strömsund

The aim of this study was to examine the integration process with regard to an integration and voluntary re‐settlement project in a rural area in northern Sweden. The project was an attempt to use existing resources in the municipality to attract people with an immigrant background to move from segregated urban environments to a rural municipality. Potential settlers were also recruited abroad. The empirical data were based on eight group interviews with recently arrived immigrant families, and eleven individual interviews with people who played an active role in the project organisation. The results showed that the new families had been integrated into the community to the extent promised by the local authority. The process was facilitated by the resources provided by both parties, but it did not involve significant costs. The immigrants were motivated to move because they wanted a new lifestyle, while the local community was motivated to provide a supportive structure for the new inhabitants because of an awareness of the imminent demographic crisis facing the community due to depopulation. The integration process was strongly influenced by the implicit criteria on which the newcomers were recruited.     

Choice of Money Transfer Methods in the Case of Albanian Immigrants in Greece

This paper investigates the choice of the method that immigrants use for the transfer of savings to their home country. The paper examines the example of Albanian immigrants in Greece using a sample of permanent and seasonal immigrants. Three methods were proposed to the immigrants: the banking network, money transfer companies and hand carried transfer by their or a relative’s return in Albania. Cost and quickness of transfer were considered as a parameter for the choice. The paper finds that despite the growth of remittances through the official network and the growth of this network in Albania, immigrants prefer to send money through the parallel market by their return or a relative’s in Albania. Within the official market, permanent immigrants are more likely to use the banking network while seasonal immigrants prefer to use the money transfer companies’ network.     

Ethnic Enclaves,Networks and Self‐Employment among Middle Eastern Immigrants in Sweden

The proportion of immigrants from countries in the Middle East living in Sweden has increased since the 1970s, and it is a well‐known fact that immigrants from the Middle East suffer from low earnings and high rates of unemployment on the Swedish labour market. There are often great hopes that self‐employment will enable immigrants to improve their labour market situation. Further, in Sweden as in many other countries, the question of whether the existence of ethnic enclaves are good or bad for immigrants’ earnings and employment opportunities has also been widely debated. This paper presents a study of the extent to which Middle Eastern ethnic enclaves and networks in Sweden enhance or hinder immigrants’ self‐employment. The results show that the presence of ethnic enclaves increases the propensity for self‐employment. Thus, immigrants in ethnic enclaves provide their co‐ethnics with goods and services that Swedish natives are not able to provide. The results also show that ethnic networks seem to be an obstacle to immigrant self‐employment. One explanation is that an increase in network size implies increased competition for customers among self‐employed immigrants. The question of whether ethnic enclaves are good or bad for the integration of immigrants into the labour market has been widely debated. The results of this paper provide us with information about the integration puzzle. Ethnic enclaves seem to enhance self‐employment propensities among Middle Eastern immigrants in Sweden.     

The Influence of Partner Choice and Country of Origin Characteristics on the Naturalization of Immigrants in Sweden: A Longitudinal Analysis

Using data for the period 1968–2001, this article assesses the influence of partner choice and origin country characteristics on the propensity of immigrants to naturalize in Sweden. Marriage to a foreign‐born Swedish citizen increases the naturalization propensity, and its effect increases strongly when the spouse naturalizes during the same year. The analysis suggests that a lower level of civic and political freedom or relative GDP per capita in the individual's country of origin is associated with an elevated probability of naturalization. During the period of study, originating from a country which allows for dual citizenship did not systematically elevate the probability to naturalize; this probability was accentuated, however, if the individual originated from a context characterized by a low degree of civic and political freedom.     

The Relationship of Welfare Receipt to Child Outcomes

Welfare receipt often is correlated negatively with children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Yet, virtually all children in households that receive public assistance are poor, prompting the question of whether poor outcomes are an effect of welfare, a spurious relationship between welfare and child outcomes, or a result of welfare selection. Using the NLSY-CS, these possibilities are examined by controlling for poverty and for selection into welfare. Controlling for child and maternal characteristics accounts for the majority of bivariate associations between welfare and outcomes among Black children. Controlling for poverty does little to change the relationship between welfare and outcomes for Black or White children. Controlling for selection into welfare further reduces the relationship between welfare receipt and outcomes among White children and has little discernible effect among Black children.     

The Political Economy of FEMA Disaster Payments

We find that presidential and congressional influences affect the rate of disaster declaration and the allocation of FEMA disaster expenditures across states. States politically important to the president have a higher rate of disaster declaration by the president, and disaster expenditures are higher in states having congressional representation on FEMA oversight committees. Election year impacts are also found. Our models predict that nearly half of all disaster relief is motivated politically rather than by need. The findings reject a purely altruistic model of FEMA assistance and question the relative effectiveness of government versus private disaster relief.     

The Future Challenge for Direct Payments

Since 1997, Local Authorities have had the discretionary power to pay cash directly to disabled adults up to the age of 65 and assessed as needing social service support. More recently, the scope of Direct Payments has been widened to include people aged over 65 years and will, under the Health and Social Care Act 2001, be extended to further groups including disabled people from 16 to 18 years of age and parent carers of young children with impairments. Direct Payments have the potential not only to impact radically upon an individual's quality of life but also to influence the 'community care' market economy and the way personal support services are purchased and delivered in the future. Recent figures from a survey undertaken by the Association of Directors of Social Services suggest that 80% of local authorities have already introduced a Direct Payments scheme and that over 3500 people are already in receipt of direct payments (Jones, 2000). This paper is based upon evidence from a user-controlled Best Value Review of Direct Payments (BVDP) in Wiltshire. It explores, from disabled people's perspective, the advantages and disadvantages of Direct Payments, and demonstrates the challenges still facing both service users and service providers.     

Transnationalism and Ethnic Identification among Adolescent Children of Immigrants in the Netherlands,Germany, England,and Sweden

Inspired by the emerging literature on transnationalism in the United States, this paper studies the return visits of adolescent children of immigrants in four European countries. Using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, cross‐classified multilevel analyses indicate that parental economic resources, ethnic motivations, and political suppression are related to adolescent children of immigrants' return visits. Furthermore, return visits are positively related to adolescents' identification with the origin country and negatively to adolescents' identification with the host country.     

从法国穆斯林移民的生存现状透视法国的移民模式

法国季节性人口迁移由来已久,且迁移的地域遍及欧洲。欧洲国家对人口迁徙情况进行清查和评估始于1805年法兰西第一帝国时期,当时实行以"血统主义"为原则的国籍制度,其用意在于保证拿破仑军队充足的兵源,这与后来共和政体实行的"属地主义"原则相对立。21世纪初,移民问题成为法国对内政策面临的一大挑战,它与公共安全、国民身份认同、就业市场、欧盟公共事务政策的制订以及在第二代移民中实现法国模式的"共和"与"非宗教化"的融合等重大问题息息相关。欧洲国家之间与欧洲国家之外的人口迁移引发以下问题:欧洲居民的原国籍问题、法国国籍问题、法国公民权的行使问题以及在重组后的家庭种族构成愈加复杂的条件下个人身份的构建问题等。     

从法国穆斯林移民的生存现状透视法国的移民模式

法国季节性人口迁移由来已久,且迁移的地域遍及欧洲。欧洲国家对人口迁徙情况进行清查和评估始于1805年法兰西第一帝国时期,当时实行以“血统主义”为原则的国籍制度,其用意在于保证拿破仑军队充足的兵源,这与后来共和政体实行的“属地主义”原则相对立。21世纪初,移民问题成为法国对内政策面临的一大挑战,它与公共安全、国民身份认同、就业市场、欧盟公共事务政策的制订以及在第二代移民中实现法国模式的“共和”与“非宗教化”的融合等重大问题息息相关。欧洲国家之间与欧洲国家之外的人口迁移5I发以下问题：欧洲居民的原国籍问题、法国国籍问题、法国公民权的行使问题以及在重组后的家庭种族构成愈加复杂的条件下个人身份的构建问题等。     

The Role of Family Income in the Intergenerational Association of AFDC Receipt

Daughters from low‐income families who did not receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) are compared to daughters from low‐income families who did receive assistance to better account for family income in the intergenerational association of AFDC. The research models the timing of a daughter's first birth and, for those who become mothers, the number of years a daughter receives any AFDC. Women whose families received AFDC during their childhood are more likely to receive AFDC as adults relative to those women whose families did not receive AFDC. Controlling for family income in a more careful and comprehensive way than past research explains part but not all of the effects of childhood AFDC receipt. Among daughters from chronically poor families, however, parental AFDC use is not associated with additional years of AFDC participation. Although the present research cannot confirm or deny a causal role for parental welfare use, the intergenerational transmission of financial resources does explain part of the intergenerational association of welfare use.