Arbetslöshet bland utrikes födda på den svenska arbetsmarknaden : En empirisk analys av vilka kommunala faktorer som kan påverka den höga arbetslösheten bland utrikesfödda

Sammanfattning: Unemployment amongst Swedish citizens is higher within the group which falls under the designation foreign-born. The aim of this thesis is to examine which municipal factors that can explain the differences in unemployment amongst foreign-born relative to native born.The empirical models are examined with both cross-sectional data for the year of 2010 and panel data for the years of 2002-2012. The examination is implemented through a linear regression analysis of the type Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Fixed Effect regressions. A theory section will be presented where the theory on Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate (NAIRU), theories on discrimination and country-specific human capital are illustrated. The result from the cross-sectional data shows that the amount of foreign-born, the level of foreign-born immigrated from Nordic countries have a significant negative effect on unemployment amongst foreign-born. The general unemployment shows a significant positive effect on the unemployment amongst foreign-born. The result from the panel data however shows that the acceptance rate in Swedish for immigrants (SFI) and the highest level for tertiary education also have a significant negative effect on unemployment amongst foreign born. According to the theory of country-specific human capital, an increase in languageskills and education will increase the individual’s human capital and productivity, hencedecrease unemployment amongst foreign-born. This theory also indicates that an increase in the level of foreign-born immigrated from Nordic countries has a lower “cultural distance”,hence easier to integrate into the Swedish labor market. Previous research indicates that an increase of the amount of foreign-born can decrease the unemployment amongst this group through an expansion of social network and employer contacts. According to the theory of NAIRU, the level of equilibrium unemployment is affected by changes in the composition ofthe workforce, hence should affect the unemployment amongst foreign-born in the corresponding direction. This indicates that the integration policy is of importance to bring down the level of NAIRU.