Integration på arbetsmarknaden : En kvantitativ studie om arbetslöshet bland utrikesfödda på kommunal nivå

Sammanfattning: Difficulties with the integration of foreign born and especially refugees in the Swedish labor market have further strengthened unemployment in the country. Unemployment is a macroeconomic problem with the fact that it leads to loss of tax revenues and lower productivity which negatively affects a country's growth. Unemployment varies within counties and among population groups of municipalities in Sweden. This is problematic as it creates economic inequality between population groups and municipalities. It also creates social contexts meaning that some areas become resource-strong while others are resource-weak. This has a negative effect on economic welfare in the country. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the persistently high unemployment rate among foreign-born in Sweden`s municipalities can be explained by differences in municipal characteristics regarding human capital, cultural distances, and wage levels. Methods used for the study is the fixed effects regression models using a panel data of 290 individuals (all municipalities in Sweden) during the period 2009-2018. Statistical analyzes using figures and tables have been used as well.  The study is based on human capital theory, social capital theory and theory of segregation. The results have shown that human capital related factors and characteristics linked to cultural distances have a significant impact on unemployment among foreign-born, in addition have foreign-born a lower value of human and social capital, which results in lower returns. The conclusion of this paper is that the human capital related factors can explain the higher unemployment rate among foreign-born people to a great extent. The cultural distance affects the value of foreign-born human and social capital and thus return. Therefore, there is a need for more effective integration policies to facilitate the establishment of foreign-born people in the Swedish labor market. Allocating them to the right areas where opportunities to acquire the necessary skills are great is one option. Even by shortening the waiting time for decisions on residence permits, work permits and waiting time for Swedish citizenship is important because this could give the opportunity to the foreign-born people to enter the country s labor market quickly as possible. Time is an important factor for them because it takes time to improve the value of their human capital, social capital, and necessary skills as well.