Mutual Learning Programme DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Peer Country Comments Paper - Sweden Migration to a welfare state Peer Review on 'Labour market inclusion of international protection applicants and beneficiaries' Madrid (Spain), 23-24 May 2016 Written by Eskil Wadensjö, Stockholm University May 2016 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Unit A1 Contact: Emilio Castrillejo E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://ec.europa.eu/social/mlp European Commission B-1049 Brussels EUROPEAN COMMISSION Mutual Learning Programme DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Peer Review on 'Labour market inclusion of international protection applicants and beneficiaries' Madrid (Spain), 23-24 May 2016 May , 2016 Mutual Learning Programme Peer Country Paper Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. 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Mutual Learning Programme Peer Country Paper Table of Contents 1 Situation of asylum seekers and refugees in Sweden ........................................ 1 2 Assessment of the policy measure .................................................................. 2 3 Assessment of the success factors and transferability ....................................... 4 4 Questions ................................................................................................... 5 Annex 1: Example of relevant practice ................................................................. 6 Annex 2: Summary table .................................................................................... 7 Mutual Learning Programme Peer Country Paper 1 Situation of asylum seekers and refugees in Sweden This paper has been prepared for a Peer Review within the framework of the Mutual Learning Programme. It provides information on Sweden’s comments on the policy example of the Host Country for the Peer Review. Sweden has been a country with net immigration since 1930 (the only exception is 1971 when the return migration of labour migrants was larger than the inflow). Labour migration dominated in the late 1940s, in the 1950s and the 1960s and in 1970; from 1971 onwards the labour migration declined. Most labour migrants were from Europe, many of them from the neighbouring countries. Those born in Finland are still the largest group of foreign born living in Sweden. Refugees1 arrived in Sweden during World War II (those from Estonia remained in Sweden also after the war), from Hungary in the late 1950s, from Poland and Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s, from Chile in the 1970s, and from Iran in the 1980s. As the unemployment rate was very low in Sweden during this period, most of the migrants were able to find employment. In the 1990s, a very large group of refugees arrived from Bosnia when unemployment was very high in Sweden, much higher than in previous decades. As a result, the employment rate for this group from Bosnia was initially very low but after a few years it rose quickly. The problems were much more pronounced for other groups of migrants (mainly from countries outside Europe) arriving during the same decade. The Swedish National Audit Office is currently conducting a study on why the Bosnian refugees were able to successfully integrate in the labour market – the purpose is to examine if there are things to learn for the present situation. The present situation is characterized by a very large inflow of asylum applicants in 2015. Sweden had the second highest number of positive first instance decisions in 2015, 32,215 according to Eurostat. Only Germany had more, 140,910. Spain had only 1,020. Consequently, Sweden is one of the countries that have received most asylum seekers in the last few years, both in absolute terms and relative to its population. Most of them have also been permitted to stay as refugees. Regarding unaccompanied minors, Sweden is getting more applications and is accepting more children than any other country in Europe.2 According to Eurostat Sweden received 35,250 asylum applications from unaccompanied minors in 2015. Germany received the second highest, with 14,440 applications. Spain received only 25 applications from refugee minors. This large flow of asylum applicants has led to logistical problems both for the Migration Agency, the Public Employment Service and the municipalities. It takes much longer time than before to process the applications and the asylum applicants therefore have to wait much longer than before. Most of the refugees have arrived directly and not through relocation. The large flow of migrants, and problems regarding the handling of that large inflow, has led the political authorities (government, parliament) to change its migration policy. The main change has been the introduction of border controls. This in turn has resulted in much fewer refugees arriving. 1 The persons are when arriving classified as asylum seekers and are if they get a permit to stay classified as refugees. This process has been fast (a few months) up to 2015 and the very large inflow of asylum applicant. 2 See Çelikaksoy, A. and Wadensjö, E. (2015), Unaccompanied Minors and Separated Refugee Children in Sweden: An Outlook on Demography, Education and Employment, IZA DP 8963 and Çelikaksoy, A. och Wadensjö, E. (2015), “The Unaccompanied Refugee Minors and the Swedish Labour Market”, IZA DP 9306. May , 2016 1 Mutual Learning Programme Peer Country Paper 2 Assessment of the policy measure Spain and Sweden, as well as many other European countries, did not expect the large flows of refugee migrants that arrived in 2015. In Sweden, the refugee migrants mainly arrived from countries in the Middle East and Afghanistan but also from some countries in Eastern Africa. Sweden was probably better prepared than Spain, as Sweden has received refugees for many years but many more refugees arrived in Sweden than in Spain. The higher than expected inflow of asylum seekers and refugees has resulted in capacity constraints at the relevant authorities. This means that they cannot handle the refugee migrants as quickly as they have in the past. Asylum seekers now have to wait much longer than before to get a decision. This in turn has led to different challenges. Asylum seekers arriving in Sweden are initially hosted in only a few locations but are shortly after their arrival distributed across the municipalities of Sweden. The distribution of asylum seekers was until recently based on applications from the municipalities but now all municipalities have to accept refugees. The municipalities are responsible for hosting them (called ABO) as well as providing an education of their children. The housing differs depending on the capacity of the municipalities but also on the needs of the refugees. Quite a few of the asylum seekers are located based on their own preferences, with relatives already living in Sweden (called EBO). EBO is much less common among those who arrive as unaccompanied children. The type of accommodation provided depends on the capacity of the municipalities, but also on the needs of the refugees. Some changes in the housing programmes were made last year. For the young ones with fewer problems, less expensive housing forms were introduced (with fewer personnel per person living in the house). Children are placed in education, whilst the adults are offered different activities, such as education in Swedish and the Swedish society and also sports and other activities. There are legal opportunities for asylum seekers to work but in practice few get a job. The period before being granted asylum or not has in an international perspective been very short (a few months), although it has been much extended in recent months due to capacity issues at the Migration Agency. For those who are granted asylum and thereby get a permit to stay, the policy is that they should get a job. The policy has changed several times during the post war period. In the first decades after World War II it was the responsibility of the Public Employment Service, later a state organisation were responsible and then the municipalities. Since a few years back, it is the Public Employment Service that is again responsible for the labour market activities for the refugees. A first evaluation of that policy shows that for men it is a slightly better solution (but there are no significant effects for women). They get a job to a higher extent than before after the reform. The municipalities, together with the counties, are still in charge for other parts of the integration process, including housing and education (municipalities) and health services (municipalities and counties). A problem with labour market integration in Sweden is that the wages are compressed: the wages for those with low-skilled jobs are relatively high. Refugee migrants are often low-skilled and if they are highly skilled they are often