International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Improving Access to Labour market Information for migrants and employers
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migration and for all sectors and occupations. The problem is that it is almost only
employers with access to international networks, like multinational companies and
employers with a foreign background, that can utilize the system’s advantages.
Other kinds of employers have a hard time finding potential employees. Another
issue is that the system, which is supposed to be demand-driven, actually allows for
a substantial labour migration to sectors and occupations that have a large surplus
of native workers. Labour migration in those sectors and occupations too often
entails problems with sham contracts and the exploitation of migrant workers.
1. Introduction
This report describes and analyses the issues of labour market information in the
Swedish context. First we give a general overview of the situation in the labour market
and in which sectors and occupations a surplus or shortage of workers is expected.
Next, the labour migration system and the inflow of labour migrants are described.
On the basis of this knowledge, we analyse issues related to labour market information
for employers and potential employees from third countries. Previous reports studying
the new law on labour migration have specifically pointed out the lack of knowledge
concerning how employers recruit migrant workers and how migrant workers find jobs
in Sweden (European Migration Network, 2012; Andersson Joona, and Wadensjö,
2011; Quirico, 2012). Some of the questions posed in this report are based on the
expectations that the country has fairly strict rules and forms for economic migration,
and that state agencies are responsible for the matching of demand for labour with
foreign labour supply. In Sweden, individual employers determine what they need in
terms of labour migrant recruitment, and there are no quotas or exchange programmes
with countries outside the EU. In other words, matching and information flow are
up to individual employers and prospective migrants. This makes it difficult to obtain
a cohesive picture concerning labour market information in the Swedish context.
Therefore, we chose to do interviews with key stakeholders to complement the written
sources. Before our conclusions and recommendations, we also analyse labour market
information issues for migrants already living in Sweden.
1.1. Migrants in the Swedish labour market
Sweden has a population of 9.5 million inhabitants. All types of immigration to Sweden
have increased throughout the 2000s and since 2006 it has been at an all-time high. At
the beginning of the millennium the foreign-born represented 11 per cent of the total
population, and at the end of 2011 the corresponding figure was 15 per cent, which
represents more than 1.4 million persons. In comparison with the rest of Europe,
Sweden accepts many refugees and was the only EU country to immediately open its
doors to citizens from the EU accession countries of 2004 and 2007. In December
2008, Sweden opened its doors to labour migrants from third countries.
Approximately 4.6 million persons are employed in Sweden, of whom a third work in
the public sector and two thirds in the private sector. The manufacturing industry’s