The report is interdisciplinary and is based on both legal analyses of the regulatory framework for labour immigration from third countries, for the period 2000-2023, and statistical analyses of register data from Statistics Sweden where people from third countries who immigrated during the period 2000-2016 for labour market reasons are followed up to and including 2020.

Some overall conclusions and recommendations

The report highlights a number of important lessons about labour migration to Sweden, as well as highlights the need for further knowledge. 

  • The regulation of labour migration has undergone extensive juridification, with a shift from government guidelines to legislation. With the 2008 reform, employers' demand for labour became the decisive factor for granting work permits, provided that wages and other employment conditions were in line with collective agreements in the profession or industry. As of 2022, a binding employment contract is required to be granted a work permit, and since autumn 2023, the income requirement has been raised to 80% of the median wage.
  • The report contributes to new knowledge about labour migrants who are registered in the population register.
    • Those who arrived after the 2008 reform had on average longer periods of stay in Sweden than those who arrived before the reform.
    • Those who were employed had, on average, high earnings that were equal to or higher than the earnings of the core labour force (the employed population aged 25-54).
    • The nature of the workplaces where they were employed changed after the 2008 reform. On average, workplaces were larger, more often in metropolitan counties, and the majority of employees were more likely to be born outside the EU/EEA. These workplaces also had a relatively high level of education among their employees. Industries such as hotels, restaurants and business services were particularly common.
  • Many of the labour migrants, however, had no registered earnings after immigrating to Sweden. Some of these left Sweden, but those who remained had a continued weak position in the labour market. Their dependants also had a relatively weak labour market position. There is therefore a need to increase knowledge about how this group secured their livelihood. There is also a great need to deepen our knowledge of the group who did not become registered and who have not been studied.
  • It is possible that the demand for labour from the EU/EEA may increase as a result of the increased income requirement in 2023 (from SEK 13,000 to SEK 27,360). Being able to monitor how increased income requirements affect the supply of skills and whether these requirements are complied with is central to future policy discussions.

About the authors

The report is written by Mattias Engdahl, PhD in economics and researcher at the Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU), and Erik Sjödin, associate professor and senior lecturer in civil law at the Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University.

Photo: Aaron Monarrez Meza Eebjbf via Unsplash

Report and Policy Brief was published 4 September 2024