International Organization for Migration (IOM)

(Chapter 9), cumbersome recognition and accreditation procedures for employment
in regulated professions largely account for the difficulties of recruiting foreignborn
professionals in occupations such as doctors and nurses, for example, despite
growing, unmet labour demand.
On the supply side, the complexity of the procedure for the recognition of foreign
qualifications may discourage migrants to apply, thus leading to their insertion
in their host county’s labour market at a lower occupational level that the one
corresponding to their formal educational attainment.
The implementation of simple and streamlined procedures for the recognition and
accreditation of foreign qualifications is crucial to offset the risks and costs involved
for employers in the recruitment of resident migrants having gained their skills
abroad. Such procedures can greatly contribute to reducing the relative disadvantage
that those migrants face in entering the labour markets of their receiving countries,
as well as the mismatches between their competences and the skills requirements
for the jobs in which they eventually end up working. The IOM LINET study on
Recognition of Qualifications and Competences of Migrants (IOM, 2013b) has identified
best practices and delivered policy recommendations on how to improve the systems
for the recognition of foreign qualifications in the EU Member States in order for
those systems to be more responsive to the labour market needs and to facilitate
efficient jobs-skills matching through migration.
Another measure that could facilitate the recruitment of migrants holding foreign
qualifications is the recourse to subsidized employment programmes in which the
cost of hiring the migrant is partly borne by the State and, as a consequence,
the information-related risks are shared between the private employer and the
public authorities. In Sweden, the risks involved for the employer in hiring
a candidate who may lack all the appropriate skills to perform the job can be
quite large, as a result of a labour market system which has a strong emphasis
on employment protection. In turn, this protection makes entry to the labour
market more difficult, particularly for the unemployed within marginal groups
such as young people, immigrants and low-skilled workers. To facilitate entry into
the labour market, subsidized employment programmes similar to regular jobs
have been implemented in the country. Newly arrived migrants have access to
subsidized employment known as entry-level jobs and New Start jobs. An entrylevel
job means that an employer who employs a person (EU/EEA and Swisscitizens
excluded) who has had a residence permit for a maximum of three years
receives 80 per cent of the salary from the state. The job must be linked to Swedish
for Immigrants, (SFI), so that the employee is able to combine language training
with the job. New Start jobs are available for a person who has had a residence
permit for a maximum of three years. An employer who employs such a person
receives financial assistance of an amount equal to two times payroll tax (31%).
According to data from the Swedish Employment Service, in 2011, about 14,000
recent migrants were employed through subsidized employment (New Start jobs
and entry-level jobs) (Chapter 9).
eXecutIve summAry – SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
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