Facts on immigrants and their descendants. 2007

Good times - for immigrants as well?

Published:

17 January 2008

Norway is experiencing an economic boom with record low unemployment. Immigrants and their descendants have also reaped the benefits of the upswing, but there are major variations. Those with the longest period of residence mainly fair much better, and the descendants are better off than those who immigrated themselves.

Written by: Gunnlaug Daugstad

Immigrants and their descendants are a composite group - if we can even describe them as a group. As in the general population, there are many different individuals with just as many life histories. There are engineers from India, refugees from Afghanistan and waiters from Sweden. Hard-working fathers, frustrated housewives, happy children, townsfolk and farmers. They have backgrounds from 213 different countries and autonomous regions, and are fluent in even more languages. It is important to remember this when considering the living conditions of immigrants and their descendants. Living conditions for the entire population vary according to factors such as age, gender, marital status, education, place of residence, but immigrants' living conditions are also affected by conditions such as period of residence, country of origin and reason for moving to Norway.

Good times in the labour market - for immigrants as well?

Norway has been experiencing a boom since 2004, with falling unemployment and a major increase in employment. These trends have also had an impact on immigrants. Unemployment has fallen and there has been a noticeable increase in employment levels in recent years, and the number of first-generation immigrants in employment is also increasing. Despite no regular labour immigration taking place in Norway for 30 years, immigration to Norway makes a considerable contribution to the employment level, and the number of employed first-time immigrants is increasing. In autumn 2006, 181 000 of those in employment were persons who had immigrated to Norway themselves, which is 7.6 per cent of all of those in employment. One out of three of these had a background from an Asian country. From November 2005 to November 2006, 21 000 more first-generation immigrants were in employment. Persons with backgrounds from the new EU countries in the east accounted for 27 per cent of these, and this was the group with the greatest growth in the number of employed in terms of percentages. Despite this, unemployment among non-western immigrants remains considerably higher than for the rest of the population.

Employment increases with period of residence for most groups

The employment share increases very clearly as the period of residence increases. For first-generation immigrants with a background from African countries, the share was only 30 per cent after less than four years of living in Norway. For those who had lived in Norway for more than four years, the share of employment increases to 45 per cent. The same trend can be seen among other non-western groups, but almost none of the groups are as high as the national average. Despite these groups having long periods of residence, and including many that are born in Norway, there are nevertheless considerable divisions between these groups and the rest of the population. Those who have lived in Norway for five years or more have an above average employment level for immigrants, and this increases to almost 65 per cent for those with a period of residence of between 10 and 15 years. Period of residence does not, however, explain all the reasons for the employment level being so much lower in some non-western groups with a long period of residence. On the other hand, we note that women have a low level of employment in some of the groups with the longest period of residence, particularly women with a background from Pakistan.

Descendants get an education...

With regard to descendants, the school participation is more on a par with the population as a whole than for those who have immigrated themselves. The descendants are better represented than the first-generation immigrants in upper secondary schools, universities and university colleges. A larger share of descendants in the age group 19-24 are students than the same age group for the population as a whole. The variance is greater for boys than girls.

...and have higher employment levels than young first-generation immigrants

The descendants are at present a very young group. The oldest have just turned 30, but the vast majority are still much younger: as of 1 January 2007, 85 per cent were less than 20 years of age. The labour force participation for descendants is, however, higher than for those who immigrated themselves in the corresponding age groups, and almost as high as the employment level for the population as a whole in the same age group. Descendants aged 20-24 have an employment level of almost 69 per cent, which is 12 percentage points higher than first-generation immigrants in the same age group and only four percentage points lower than for everyone of this age.

Immigrant population has more than doubled since 1990

Since 1970, the immigrant population has increased more than sixfold, and since 1990, it has more than doubled. At the start of 2007, 415 300 persons resident in Norway had an immigrant background, which is 8.9 per cent of the entire population. Of these, 341 800 had immigrated themselves and 73 500 were born to two immigrants.

An increasing share have backgrounds from non-western countries

Today, 310 000 persons have backgrounds from non-western countries, which is 6.6 per cent of the entire population in Norway. In 1986, 1.1 per cent of Norway’s population had non-western backgrounds, including East Europe. There has therefore been a considerable increase during this period. There has been no similar increase in the western immigrant population during the said period.

Half of non-western first-generation immigrants have a refugee background

At the start of 2007, there were 125 100 persons with a refugee background in Norway; 2.7 per cent of the total population. More than half of the non-western first-generation immigrants had a refugee background. The majority of these were from Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran and Vietnam.

Most immigrate due to work and family

In 2006, 29 500 non-Nordic citizens immigrated. Forty per cent of these were given permission to stay due to employment and 40 per cent because of family. In the past two years, the non-Nordic labour immigration has almost tripled. The majority of these come from Poland, but many also come from Germany and Lithuania. In addition, there are also a considerable number of Nordic labour immigrants, who are not registered in the same way. Family immigrants were the other large group, hence two out of ten family members had a refugee background and just as many were connected with a person with no immigrant background. For certain periods in the 1990s, the majority of new arrivals to Norway were refugees.

The longer the period of residence, the more integrated?

When comparing different immigrant groups, varying periods of residence can explain some of the differences between the groups, both with regard to demography and living conditions. The first labour immigrants came from the third world to Norway towards the end of the 1960s. They arrived from Turkey, Yugoslavia and Morocco first, then from India and particularly Pakistan. In 1970, Norway had 434 Moroccan citizens, 260 Turks and 212 from India and Pakistan. At the start of 2007, these four groups made up almost 58 000 immigrants and descendants, of which Pakistanis accounted for half.

The process of integrating into society takes longer for some groups than others. In the 1970s and 80s, persons with a refugee background from Vietnam were relatively new to Norway, and many of them had the same problems in the labour market as, for example, those from Somalia have today. Persons with a background from Vietnam now have a higher level of employment than average for Asian immigrants. Despite the differences between the refugee groups, this shows that time is a vital factor in integration.

Documents 2008 / 01 : Facts on immigrants and their descendants. 2007