”Att flyglinjer läggs ner tillsammans med det faktum att tågens punktlighet försämrats över tid påverkar företagsklimatet runt om i Sverige”, skriver forskare vid Linnéuniversitetet.

We examine immigrant self-employment in Sweden during the turbulent decade 2011–2021. This is done for different cohorts of immigrants from Africa and Asia and for unincorporated and incorporated firms. Immigrants have lower business earnings and higher exit rates from self-employment than natives, which is in line with previous research. The period in which the immigrants arrived in Sweden and the type of business they are engaged in have important implications for outcomes. In most cases, outcomes are more favorable for those who came to Sweden up to the turn of the millennium, and less so for the latest arrivals. Even so, a closer look at outcomes by organizational form reveals that immigrants who arrived during 2011–2021 suffered less in terms of lower business earnings compared to earlier cohorts if they were in incorporated instead of unincorporated self-employment. Switching organizational form is not associated with catching up on business earnings for immigrant self-employed vis-à-vis Swedish-born.

This paper examines how managerial background influences firms’ use of labor migration. Using Swedish data, we analyze whether firms led by foreign-born managers are more likely to apply for work permits for non-EU workers. We find that such managers significantly increase the likelihood of application, even after controlling for firm characteristics and regional conditions. Our results suggest that leadership diversity affects access to global labor and how firms engage with migration policy. The study adds new evidence on how firm-level decision-makers shape international recruitment and the institutional channels of cross-border labor mobility.

När tågen inte går att lita på och fler orter drabbas av indragna flyglinjer upplever många företagare i landsbygdskommuner att det blir svårare att bedriva affärsverksamhet. Det menar Mats Hammarstedt och Per Skedinger, professor respektive adjungerad professor i nationalekonomi vid Linnéuniversitet i Växjö.

We examine immigrant self-employment in Sweden during 2011–2021 – a turbulent decade with a large influx of refugees into the country and the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Four outcome variables are investigated: the probability of self-employment, the probability of entry into and exit from this state and earnings of the self-employed. This is done for different cohorts of immigrants from Africa and Asia and for different types of businesses, unincorporated and incorporated firms. We find that immigrants have lower business earnings and higher exit rates from self-employment than natives, which is in line with previous research.

It also turns out that the period in which the immigrants arrived to Sweden and the type of business they are engaged in have important implications for outcomes. In most cases, outcomes are more favorable for the earliest of the three cohorts we study, those who came to Sweden up to the turn of the millennium, and less so for the latest arrivals during the turbulent decade. Moreover, immigrants in incorporated self-employment who arrived during 2011–2021 fared less badly, relative to earlier cohorts, in terms of business earnings than their counterparts in unincorporated businesses, while results concerning exits from self-employment are mixed in this respect.

In a field experiment, we study the causal effects of previous experience and language skills when newly arrived Syrian refugees in Sweden apply for low-skilled jobs. We find no evidence of sizeable effects from previous experience or completed language classes on the probability of receiving callback from employers. However, female applicants were more likely than males to receive a positive response. As a complement to the experiment, we interview a select number of employers, which provides additional insights into how they judge candidates for low-skilled jobs.

Lokala bankkontor, goda möjligheter till transporter samt kollektivtrafik av hög kvalitet är således viktiga faktorer för ett framgångsrikt företagande i Kronobergs län, skriver Lina Aldén, Mats Hammarstedt och Per Skedinger vid Linnéuniversitetet.

Säkerställ att kollektivtrafik och transporter till landsbygden håller hög kvalitet, uppmanar forskarna Lina Aldén, Mats Hammarstedt och Per Skedinger.

Our use of longitudinal register data combined with a unique survey allows us to offer a more comprehensive picture of rural self-employment than in previous studies. We find that self-employed in rural settings are more likely than those in metropolitan regions to employ others, but self-employment rates in rural areas are lower. There is substantial heterogeneity among the rural self-employed; in-movers are quite different from stayers in terms of their perceptions of the conditions necessary for business success and their employment practices. Policy initiatives aimed at fostering development in rural areas should consider these distinctions.