Labour immigration to Sweden from Non-EU/EEA Countries

The Swedish regulation of labour immigration from third countries has undergone extensive changes in recent decades, but a thorough review of these changes is lacking. There is also limited knowledge about the labour immigrants coming to Sweden. This report aims at filling some of these knowledge gaps. To achieve this aim, two main research questions are formulated:

1. How has the regulation of labour immigration from third countries changed since the turn of the millennium?
2. Who are the labour immigrants from third countries, what are their income levels, and what are the characteristics of their workplaces?

To answer the first research question, we describe the development of the regulatory framework for labour immigration from third countries from 2000 to 2023. The second research question is answered through analyses of register data. The study period is chosen to provide a picture of the regulatory framework both before and after the 2008 reform, which fundamentally changed the regulatory framework, as well as to investigate whether the reform led to changes in the composition of those who immigrate to Sweden for work.