International Organization for Migration (IOM)

At the same time there are several occupations in need of workers, both in the short
and long run, where there is very limited labour migration from third countries. The
most obvious example is that of nurses and doctors.
Figure 9.2: Work permits from 1 January 2009 to 31 August 2012
Seasonal workers
Source: Migration Board.
Low-skilled
Skilled
Series 1; Low-skilled; 12,734; 23%
Series 1; Skilled; 23,369; 41%
Series 1; Seasonal workers; 20,235; 36%
The different categories of labour migrants come from different conditions and
countries. Skilled labourers are mostly from India and China, seasonal workers from
Thailand and low-skilled from countries whence refugees have traditionally come
from. These different categories of labour migrants also tend to have been recruited
to Sweden in different ways (see Section 2).
About 2,700 foreign students have received work permits up until the end of August
2012. The number more than doubled in 2011 when over 1,000 students were granted
a work permit. 37 per cent of the students granted work permits were in low-skilled
occupations. For every year since 2009, the share of students who start working in
low-skilled jobs has decreased. So far, in 2012, it is 29 per cent. During the same time
period, close to 1,300 failed asylum-seekers was granted work permits. About 80 per
cent of them started work in low-skilled jobs, primarily in elementary occupations or
as service workers and shop sales workers.
It is difficult to know at this point how many of the labour migrants extend their
work permits. When the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (2012b) conducted a
follow-up investigation of labour migration in November 2011, there were close to
18,000 migrant workers in the country. This implies that over half of those who have
come to Sweden since December 2008 have already left the country. The followup
also showed that 58 per cent of them lived in Stockholm and that 43 per cent
had a university education. In Stockholm 49 per cent of the migrants were skilled,
which means that 76 per cent of the skilled labour migrants in Sweden work in
Stockholm. In many of the regions outside of Stockholm County there are very few
skilled labour migrants.
country studIes – SWEDEN
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