Employment and education among young immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents

This report looks at how the share of young people aged 16-34 years in employment and education varies with immigration background. The following three groups are compared: Those who arrived in Norway as immigrants from Eastern-Europe outside the EU, from Asia, Africa and South- and Central-America; those born in Norway to immigrant parents with background from the mentioned world regions and persons of non-immigrant background (i.e. the majority population). The report is based on register statistics for the 4th quarter 2006.

As an outline, Norwegian-born to immigrant parents under 25 years are much more similar to the majority population than young immigrants when it comes to the share that are in employment or in education. These two groups constitute the share labelled "actives". Among 16-19 year olds the difference in these shares between the majority population and the Norwegian-born to immigrant parents was 4 percentage points, while for 20-24 year olds it was 7 percentage points. In the age group 25-29 year olds, where employment becomes the dominant activity status, we see an increasing gap to the majority population: 10 percentage points. For the oldest age group, aged 30-34 years, this gap has increased to 13 percentage points. However, this is the smallest age-group among Norwegian-born to immigrant parents.

Shares of actives by gender are almost equal for Norwegian-born to immigrant parents under 25 years and the majority population in the same age group. However, in the older age group (25-29 years) the level for Norwegian-born females to immigrant parents drops, while it remains somewhat stable for males. It is primarily a lower rate of employment among females which contributes to the lower share of actives among Norwegian-born to immigrant parents above 24 years compared to the majority population.

When we look at young immigrants with background from Eastern-Europe outside the EU, Asia, Africa and South- and Central-America, their age at the time of immigration is important for the share of actives. If they have undertaken all their schooling in Norway, the share of actives is approximately the same as for Norwegian-born to immigrant parents. Thus, it is young immigrants with short periods of residence in Norway who contribute to the low share of actives. And to a even greater extent than for young Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, the lower share of females in employment or education is the main contributing factor.

It is in other words among immigrant females we see the greatest gap to the majority population, and much of this difference seems to be related to marital status and family situation. These females marry at a younger age, and it is also less common among them to work when married with children than for majority females. This is especially the case for females with a shorter period of residence where many are family immigrants. But also among those who have lived in Norway for a longer period of time, we see a decline in the activity level among those over 25 years of age. Norwegian-born females to immigrant parents are much closer to females in the majority population, but also this group experiences a decline in the share of actives from 25 years of age. The result is a greater disparity compared to females in the majority population.

Funding: The report was commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion