Employment among immigrants, register-based, 2006, 4th quarter

Male immigrants had an employment rate of 65.7 per cent, while the rate for female immigrants was 54.5 per cent. In the population as a whole the corresponding rates were 73.3 and 66.6 per cent respectively. The increase in employment was strongest among male immigrants, with 3.6 percentage points. Among female immigrants the increase was 2.2 percentage points.

People born abroad by foreign-born parents are defined as immigrants. They must also be registered as residents in Norway for at least six months. Figures on employed persons on short - term stay have been published recently.

New EU countries on western level

Immigrants from the Nordic countries had the highest employment rate at 73.5 per cent (table 1), followed by immigrants from other countries in Western Europe and the new EU countries in the east, both at around 71 per cent. This high level is due to the large proportion of labour immigrants within these groups.

Among non-western immigrants, who mainly consist of refugees, immigrants from Africa had the lowest employment rate at 45.2 per cent, while immigrants from South and Central America had the highest rate at 62.6 per cent. Immigrants from Asia had an employment rate of 53.3 per cent, whereas employment among immigrants from Eastern Europe outside the EU was 59.2 per cent.

Longer residence increases employment

Employment among immigrants increases considerably after four years of residence (table 4). The employment rate among immigrants who have lived in Norway for five years or more was higher than the average level for immigrants. Furthermore, the employment rate among immigrants with 10 to 15 years of residence was 65 per cent. However, for immigrants with 15 years of residence or more the rate was slightly lower. This phenomenon is related to the relatively higher proportions of elderly people in this group, especially among westerner immigrants.

The differences between the groups of immigrants do not seem to level out after some years.

Among immigrants with more than 15 years of residence in Norway, the African and Asian groups still had the lowest employment rate with 53 per cent and 59.3 per cent.

High employment rate among some non-westerners

Broken down by nationality, some non-western groups had a relatively high level of employment (table 9). For instance, immigrants from Chile (68 per cent), Sri Lanka (66 per cent), the Philippines (65 per cent), India (63 per cent), Bosnia-Herzegovina (62.7 per cent) and Vietnam (61.7 per cent) all had employment rates above the immigrant average and close to many western groups. On the other hand, immigrants from Somalia had the lowest employment rates at 31.7 per cent followed by immigrants from Afghanistan and Iraq with a rate of employment slightly above 41 per cent. The low level must to some extent be seen in connection with the high proportion of refugees with short time of residence in Norway in these groups.

Large differences between men and women in some groups

Behind the main trends we find a relatively low employment rate among immigrants with a long period of residence in Norway. The employment rate among immigrants from Pakistan, the largest non-western group, was only 46.3 per cent. This is a result of a very low employment level among female immigrants in this group. The employment rate among women from Pakistan was only 29 per cent compared with 62 per cent among men. The same pattern is seen for immigrants from Turkey and Morocco, although the differences were not quite as large as for immigrants from Pakistan (table 9).

Many non-westerners in occupations that do not require higher qualifications

Distribution by nine main occupational groups shows that non-western employees are over-represented in occupations that do not require higher qualifications (table 12). 23 per cent of the non-western employees worked in this group, compared with 6.3 per cent in the working population as a whole (with information of occupation). Western employees are more likely to work in professional occupations. 20 per cent of the western group had such occupations compared with 11.3 per cent in the working population as a whole and 6.7 per cent of non-western employees.

40 per cent within industrial cleaning are immigrants

Immigrants constituted 7.6 per cent of all persons employed in Norway. In some industry groups, the proportion of immigrants equals that of the working-population as a whole, for instance in manufacturing, transport and communication and health and social care (table 8). However, immigrants are over-represented in industrial cleaning and the hotel and restaurant sector. Immigrants comprised 40 and 22 per cent of these groups respectively, and the majority are non-western immigrants. In addition, there was a large proportion of immigrants in the industry group “labour recruitment and provision of personnel”, at 17 per cent.

Private sector has the highest proportion of immigrants

Distribution by economic sector shows that the private sector has the largest proportion of non-western employees, at 5.9 per cent (table 10). In comparison, the corresponding figures for the municipal and county sector and the state sector were 4.9 per cent and 3.7 per cent. This must be seen in connection with the distribution by industry and occupation, as the state sector has a higher share of academic occupations than the private sector.

Norwegians born by foreign-born immigrants (descendants)

This group had a total employment rate of 53.8 per cent. In absolute figures, this group counted 10 200 people (table 2). However, it must be taken into consideration that 44 per cent of this group were younger than 20 years (based on the 15 to 74 years population). This is in other words a young group and many are likely to be students/pupils and thus not in the labour force. If we, however, look at the group of employed aged 20 to 24 years, the rate is 68.7 per cent, which is 12 percentage points higher than the employment in the same age group among first generation immigrants and only 4 percentage points below the total average for this age group.

Also the employment rate among descendants aged 25 years and over was much higher than that of first generation immigrants but about 7 percentage points below that of the population as a whole.

Tables:

• Table 1 Employed, by immigrant background, region of birth and sex . Q4 2005 and Q4 2006. Absolute figures and per cent of persons aged 15-74 years
• Table 2 Employed by immigrant background, region of birth and age. Q4 2006. Per cent of persons in total and in absolute figures
• Table 3 Employed by immigrant background, region of birth, sex and labour market status. Q4 2006. Absolute figures and in per cent of persons aged 15-74 years in each group
• Table 4 Employed first generation immigrants by region of birth and years of residence in Norway. Absolute figures and in per cent of persons aged 15-74 years in each group. Q4 2006
• Table 5 Employed by years of residence in Norway, age and region of birth. Q4 2006. Per cent of persons aged 15-74 years in each group and in absolute figures
• Table 6 Employed aged 15-74 years by selected industries, immigrant background and region of birth. Q4 2006. Per cent
• Table 7 Employed aged 15-74 years by region of birth and selected industries. Q4 2006. Per cent
• Table 8 Employed immigrants aged 15-74 years, by selectred industries and region of birth. Q4 2006. Absolute figures and in per cent of employed in total within each group
• Table 9 Employed first generation immigrants, by selcted countries of birth and sex. Q4 2006. Absolute figures and in per cent of persons aged 15-74 years within each group
• Table 10 Employees, by immigrant-background and economic sector. Q4 2005 and 2006
• Table 11 Employees by economic sector, sex and region of birth. Q4 2006. Absolute figures and per cent
• Table 12 Employees, by occupational groups and region of birth. Q4 2005 and 2006
• Table 13 Employed by county of residence and immigrant-background. Q4 2005 and 2006. Absolute numbers and in per cent of people 15-74 years in each group
• Table 14 People aged 15-74 years by sex, birth of region and labour force status. Q4 2006
• Table 15 People aged 15-74 years by sex, birth of region and labour force status. Q4 2006. Per cent