The Swedish Employment Service is facing heavy criticism over a new optimistic report on the employment of new migrants, with critics pointing out that the only growth has been in jobs heavily subsidized by the government.
The new report claimed a large surge in newly arrived migrants enrolling in studies or finding employment, up from 32 percent in 2017 to 44 percent this year but critics have slammed the report as all of the growth is tied to government-funded programmes rather than private enterprise, SVT reports.
Anna Dahlberg, political editor of Swedish newspaper Expressen criticised the report saying, “To call it a big success is directly misleading,” and added that while it was clear that the Swedish Employment Service had a difficult task given the educational and skill level of some migrants, as well as their knowledge of Swedish, the report should not try to paint a better picture of the actual situation.
The figures for migrants finding work without government aid remain small with only 4 percent in some form of study and 7 percent gaining employment, unchanged from the previous year.
While the foreign-born unemployment rate has seen a slight decline as well, it remains much higher than the native Swedish rate at 19.9 percent https://t.co/QZ3npY9R1w
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 16, 2018
Director General of the Employment Service Mikael Sjöberg defended the report saying, “One must be able to see that the results of the establishment program are getting better, but at the same time we face major challenges. But it is important to be aware that things are going well.”
The unemployment rate of native Swedes compared to migrants has differed greatly for years, with Swedes having a much lower rate of unemployment. According to a report from last year, the unemployment rate for Swedes stood at a mere 3.9 percent compared to the 21.8 percent rate for migrant arrivals.
Earlier this year it was revealed that overall unemployment had declined across the country but the gap between native Swedes and migrants still remained high with migrant unemployment at 19.9 percent.
The unemployment situation has also been clearly seen in the heavily migrant populated city of Malmö where the unemployment rate was double the national average, according to a report from August.
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