Immigrants with an academic degree have trouble in finding a job

Swedish graduates have an employment rate of around 90 per cent. For graduates from abroad the figure is about 61 per cent.

Region Skåne wanted to find out why graduates from abroad find it harder to find a job. Now their report ha been published. It is called ’Mapping the obstacles to getting established that newly-arrived graduates in Skåne encounter.’

It points out eight different areas with challenges and seven important bottlenecks.The greatest challenge is getting the new arrivals to master the language . Sfi, Swedish for immigrants, does not produce good enough results. Newcomers criticise having to wait for three months before they can start learning Swedish.

Another problem is that people who have just arrived have no idea of how to behave at a Swedish workplace. And there are no short courses at university level.

The system that is supposed to enable new arrivals to get established on the labour market is rigid and unclear, with many organisations and authorities involved. Many regard new arrivals as a homogenous group.

In the report it states that employers are not deeply enough engaged in different programmes. This can result in the immigant graduates’ taking jobs that are below their level of competence. Moreover the graduates take jobs that others with a lower degree of competence could do, the report says.