Occupational mismatch as a risk factor for mental health among Indian and Pakistani Immigrants living in Sweden

Occupational mismatch occurs when there is a mismatch between a person's education /work experience and occupational class and has been found to be associated with poor health and mortality. Immigrants may be more susceptible to occupational mismatch due to adverse post-immigration factors such as Poor labor market integration and difficulties in recognizing educational qualifications. In Sweden, there are now 84,710 Pakistani and Indian immigrants. There is a lack of understanding of their job position concerning their occupational mismatch and its relationship to mental health. This study aims to investigate the association between occupational mismatch and mental health among Indian and Pakistani immigrants worker living in Sweden. A convenience sample of 222 Pakistani and Indian residents of Sweden was used in this cross-sectional study. Facebook was used to recruit participants; study information was posted on Facebook with a link to the online questionnaire. The survey was held from the 28th of April to the 11th of May, 2022. The survey includes questions about skill level, education, job category (as defined by the ISCO 2008 code), and socio-demographic information. A subjective self-reported assessment of the respondents was utilized to measure occupational mismatch. Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used to measure mental health. Descriptive statistics show that more than half of the study participants (53.6%) were Occupational mismatches. Linear regression analysis shows that Occupational Mismatch was not significantly associated with mental health (P₌ 0.65). Most of the study participants (70%) had severe mental health problems. Mental health problem was very common among Indian and Pakistan immigrants in Sweden