The Labour-Market Participation of Highly Skilled Immigrants in Sweden : An Overview

This paper provides an overview of the socio-demographic characteristics,labour-market participation and occupational mobility of highly educatedimmigrants1 in Sweden. Based on a statistical analysis of register data, wecompare their employment rates, salaries and occupational skill level andmobility to those of immigrants with lower education and with natives. Amongthe questions addressed in this paper are: What is the socio-demographic profileof highly skilled immigrants to Sweden? Where do they come from and how dothey enter the country? Are there differences in highly educated immigrants’employment rates by citizenship status, migration entry route and place ofbirth? How do the salaries of highly educated men and women comparebetween immigrants and natives? What is the education-to-job match for them?How do occupational mobility patterns compare for highly educatedimmigrants versus those with lower education? Finally, are there differences inoccupational skill level for highly educated migrants by entry route? Our resultsshow that, while highly skilled immigrants perform better than those with alower educational level, they never catch up with their native counterparts