The workforce participation of Sweden's newly arrived immigrants: An evaluation of the Establishment Reform
(2014) SIMV24 20141Master of Science in Development Studies
Graduate School
- Abstract
- The low levels of workforce participation achieved by Sweden’s immigrants is an issue that has challenged policymakers for over 35 years. Recently, the significance of this issue in the minds of Swedish voters has been made clear, as Sweden elected the first far-right anti-immigration party into parliament in almost 20 years. In late 2010, in an effort to combat the ongoing issue, the government introduced a new policy, entitled the Establishment Reform, to facilitate and accelerate the introduction of newly arrived immigrants into working and social life in Sweden. This thesis presents a realistic evaluation of the Establishment Reform, with the aim of highlighting its strengths and limitations, and providing feedback to policymakers that... (More)
- The low levels of workforce participation achieved by Sweden’s immigrants is an issue that has challenged policymakers for over 35 years. Recently, the significance of this issue in the minds of Swedish voters has been made clear, as Sweden elected the first far-right anti-immigration party into parliament in almost 20 years. In late 2010, in an effort to combat the ongoing issue, the government introduced a new policy, entitled the Establishment Reform, to facilitate and accelerate the introduction of newly arrived immigrants into working and social life in Sweden. This thesis presents a realistic evaluation of the Establishment Reform, with the aim of highlighting its strengths and limitations, and providing feedback to policymakers that can be used to inform potential amendments to the program. The research employs a combination of document analysis, semi-structured interviews with a selection of public authority employees responsible for delivering the program, and a short answer survey with newly arrived immigrants who have participated in the program. It finds that there are a number of constraints pertaining to the context in which the program was introduced, and the mechanisms by which it is intended to operate. The results suggest that although aspects of the program are functioning well, without resolving contextual issues such as housing and discrimination in the labour market, whilst also improving the recognition of foreign-obtained human capital, and regulating the quality of service providers tasked with assisting the immigrants, the capacity for the Establishment Reform to deliver its desired outcomes will be limited. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4612357
- author
- Amloh, Michael LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SIMV24 20141
- year
- 2014
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- workforce participation, barriers to employment, newly arrived immigrants, Establishment Reform, Sweden, critical realism, realistic evaluation.
- language
- English
- id
- 4612357
- date added to LUP
- 2014-09-05 08:26:19
- date last changed
- 2014-09-10 12:14:40
@misc{4612357,
abstract = {{The low levels of workforce participation achieved by Sweden’s immigrants is an issue that has challenged policymakers for over 35 years. Recently, the significance of this issue in the minds of Swedish voters has been made clear, as Sweden elected the first far-right anti-immigration party into parliament in almost 20 years. In late 2010, in an effort to combat the ongoing issue, the government introduced a new policy, entitled the Establishment Reform, to facilitate and accelerate the introduction of newly arrived immigrants into working and social life in Sweden. This thesis presents a realistic evaluation of the Establishment Reform, with the aim of highlighting its strengths and limitations, and providing feedback to policymakers that can be used to inform potential amendments to the program. The research employs a combination of document analysis, semi-structured interviews with a selection of public authority employees responsible for delivering the program, and a short answer survey with newly arrived immigrants who have participated in the program. It finds that there are a number of constraints pertaining to the context in which the program was introduced, and the mechanisms by which it is intended to operate. The results suggest that although aspects of the program are functioning well, without resolving contextual issues such as housing and discrimination in the labour market, whilst also improving the recognition of foreign-obtained human capital, and regulating the quality of service providers tasked with assisting the immigrants, the capacity for the Establishment Reform to deliver its desired outcomes will be limited.}},
author = {{Amloh, Michael}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The workforce participation of Sweden's newly arrived immigrants: An evaluation of the Establishment Reform}},
year = {{2014}},
}