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Post-enlargement Migration and Adjustment in a Receiving Country: The Case of Sweden

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Labor Migration, EU Enlargement, and the Great Recession

Abstract

Sweden’s immigration policy has changed drastically on several occasions over time. Immigration policy was very liberal from the 1860s until WW1, with no requirements regarding passports, visas or work permits, although international migration mainly involved emigration during this period in the context of Sweden, with wages lower than in neighboring countries. The policy changed in 1914 after the start of WW1, and the controls became gradually more stringent during the war, with a work permit compulsory and difficult to attain for those who wanted to move to Sweden for work. While the immigration regulation remained after the war, the requirements for those coming from other Nordic countries were made slightly less stringent. The work permit requirement in the interwar-period was motivated by the high unemployment rate, based upon the notion that jobs should be reserved for natives.

The authors thank the anonymous referee as well as the editors of this volume and Per Lundborg for providing a number of suggestions that helped to improve the chapter significantly. We will also thank SIEPS for economic support making it possible to access the register data used in this chapter. We remain responsible for any mistakes still present.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Boguslaw (2012) for a detailed presentation of the development of the Swedish immigration policy and Wadensjö (2012) for a presentation of some of the important changes in the twentieth century.

  2. 2.

    See Pedersen et al. (2008) for a study of the first 50 years of the Common Nordic Labour Market.

  3. 3.

    See Doyle et al. (2006) for the political process leading to the decision of no transitional rules.

  4. 4.

    It is possible to present information on the migration flows according to country of birth, country of citizenship or country of arrival and departure. The tables presented here are based on country of birth. The differences between the different legal statuses are small. One example: The number of immigrants born in Poland was 4500 in 2011 and the number of immigrants with Polish citizenship was 4403 the same year. The corresponding numbers for emigration were 1530 for Polish born and 1395 Polish citizens.

  5. 5.

    The information in this paper is updated with 4 years compared to Gerdes and Wadensjö (2008, 2009).

  6. 6.

    See OECD (2011).

  7. 7.

    Some may live in Sweden and work in non-registered employment, but the number of persons for which information on both employment and income transfers is missing is too large for this to be the main explanation.

  8. 8.

    See Wadensjö et al. (2012) for a discussion of the economic effects of EU12 immigration. For recent general surveys of the effects of immigration, see Okkerse (2008) and Pekkala Kerr and Kerr (2011).

  9. 9.

    See Longhi et al. (2005a, 2005b, 2008).

  10. 10.

    Per Lundborg, SULCIS, Stockholm University has a research project on this topic. His preliminary results are indicating wage effects.

  11. 11.

    See Hedberg and Pettersson (2012).

  12. 12.

    There is not any study of the wage effect of immigration for the construction sector in Sweden, but it is not unlikely that there is a negative wage effect as is found in Norway. See Bratsberg and Raaum (2012).

  13. 13.

    See OECD (2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Christer Gerdes & Eskil Wadensjö

Authors
  1. Christer Gerdes
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  2. Eskil Wadensjö
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Correspondence to Christer Gerdes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Policy, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

    Martin Kahanec

  2. IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany

    Klaus F. Zimmermann

Appendix: Data on Migration Flows: Some Problems

Appendix: Data on Migration Flows: Some Problems

Knowledge about migration and its effects demands statistical information of a high quality. However, there are some problems in this respect, as detailed below.

  • There is underreporting (or late reporting) of the emigration of immigrants, which leads to the migrant population being overestimated and the employment rates underestimated. The most common likely explanation for the underreporting of emigration is a lack of information on how to do it or simply forgetting to do it. However, there may also be other explanations.

  • Another problem is that only those staying at least 1 year (or intending to stay 1 year) should be registered in the register of the Swedish population and thereby included in the statistics. Those who stay for at least 3 months are registered by the tax authority and are given a special “coordination number”. When sent to Statistics Sweden, this information is not combined with information on the country of origin or citizenship.

  • Some foreign workers are arriving as tourists and staying in Sweden for less than three months and thus are not included in any of the registers.

  • Another group for which we lack information is those who work in Sweden on a temporary basis for companies based in another EU country.

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Gerdes, C., Wadensjö, E. (2016). Post-enlargement Migration and Adjustment in a Receiving Country: The Case of Sweden. In: Kahanec, M., Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Labor Migration, EU Enlargement, and the Great Recession. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45320-9_6

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