Employment and Structural Change: Economic Integration of Immigrants in the Swedish and Malmo Labour Markets 1970-1990

Sweden developed during the first two decades of the post-war period into one of the wealthiest countries in the world. This change in the wealth of the country was accompanied by immigration on a previously unknown scale. Sweden’s remarkable economic growth has been facilitated by this immigrant flow, which consisted almost entirely of European labour migrants during the period up to the early 1970s. Over the past twenty years this symbiotic relationship has changed drastically, however. The Swedish economy has suffered from a relatively low growth rate, while undergoing a transformation towards increased service sector employment and decreased industrial employment. Simultaneous with the economic changes, the composition of immigration to Sweden has also changed significantly, shifting from European labour migrants to non-European refugees and tied movers.2