Economist article on Nordic immigration

[global gypsy]

Economist article on the Nordics' difficulty in attracting skilled immigrants:
http://www.economist.com/world/europe/d ... d=10960117
Excerpt:
"All Nordic countries have a big problem attracting and retaining the most skilled foreign workers. Some 120,000 foreigners have jobs in Norway, for example, but only a small minority are highly skilled. The directorate of immigration can let in 5,000 highly skilled workers from outside the EU every year, but the annual quota has never been filled. The Danes, too, have difficulties attracting skilled workers. Denmark's new plan to introduce a points-based green-card scheme might woo some engineers and IT wizards, but will it induce them to stay? New figures from the Danish Economic Council, a government-sponsored think-tank, show that 20% of foreign workers leave within a year, and 40% go within two years.

Observers' explanations for this range from the prosaic (dismal weather, difficult languages) to the political (perceptions of hostility to foreigners). But it adds up to the same conclusion: enticing skilled foreigners to the Nordics is a tough job."

[global gypsy]

How come there's not a rush of skilled migrants to the Nordics?

[Christophe]

How come there's not a rush of skilled migrants to the Nordics?

Well, the weather and the languages might indeed be two reasons. And although the Scandinavian languages are not especially difficult to learn, at least for speakers of other basically Germanic languages, including English, few people moving to the Nordic countries would arrive with any knowledge of the language of the country. And although lots of the local people will speak English, especially in the work environment, they probably won't particularly choose to do so in their social, free time. It's also true that there is almost no scope for their use in other parts of the world, which makes the investment of time and effort needed to learn them seem, perhaps, less worthwhile, particularly for people who are not convinced that the future lies there.

(The comments above about the possible relative easiness of Scandinavian languages do not apply, of course, to Finnish, which is not a Scandinavian language and which most foreign learners find scarily difficult even to begin to get to grips with — the vocabulary, grammar, language structures, and ways of thinking required to speak Finnish all being unusual, in world terms.)

We probably also tend to forget how small the populations of the Nordic countries are. Sweden is easily the largest, with a bit over nine million people. Therefore, prospects for new arrivals are probably more limited than in some other countries.

Their broadly socialist systems also mean that, while the standard of living is generally high, it is difficult to become "rich": again, that might put off some types of immigrants (logically or not).

I don't know what effect nationality laws would have on migration from outside the EU, but until recently all the Nordic countries had restrictive laws and polices on dual nationality, and Denmark and Norway still do. And naturalisation as a Danish citizen is quite difficult — the barriers, in terms of language ability for example, are set very high.

[Administrator]

.

All of these Nordic societies are pretty closed. It is very difficult for a foreigner to become part of these communities.

Regarding work, Sweden (for instance) has a general policy of 'last hired first fired.' Meaning, when a company cuts staff, they are required by law to cut the junior-most staff unless there is a clear & compelling reason otherwise.

That is a very frightening and harsh reality for foreigners. If you don't have a substantial long-term job prospect, you really are in danger of having to leave the country before you can obtain permanent residence.

One friend of mine relocated from the U.S. for an excellent IT job in Stockholm. At great expense in time money & personal commitment he relocated ... only to get cut ten months later. Senior staff (citizens of Sweden) who were unqualified to do his job kept their employment due to this policy while he had to leave Sweden at his own expense.

He suffered huge losses and ended up back in the U.S. 14 months after his original move, jobless and broke. A very, VERY harsh lesson. Now, six years later, he and his family are still suffering the effects of that disaster.


Permanent residence is tough ... as per Christophe's comments on language & culture. Also, adjustment to a tax system that most of the 'entrepreneurial world' (of which most immigrants are a part) finds burdensome is yet another difficulty.

The quality of life is quite high .. but it's generally for people who intend permanent re-location for life rather than folks who want to do it for a while and move on.

And, they need a very serious commitment from an employer who can assure permanent relocation.

teh Admin

[global gypsy]

Many thanks for the info on Sweden. I have been seriously considering moving there, having heard a lot about the high standard of living, progressive society, etc. - but now I will have a serious re-think!

And I assume the other Nordic countries are not that different in their employment practices.

[Christophe]

Of interest in relation to this topic is the following article from the BBC website:

Sweden top for welcoming migrants.

[global gypsy]

"Sweden was also judged best at giving migrants the right to stay for the long-term, by having what researchers found to be a fair, simple and transparent system.
The UK scored highly in this category and also in the related area of naturalisation"

Do we have more details on the Swedish immigration path? I don't believe they have anything similar to the UK's HSMP (now Tier-1) scheme.