Does place of residence impact labour market participation? - A quantitative study of foreign-born women in Sweden

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the employment rate of foreign-born women and their place of residence. Segregation in Sweden has been increasing along with differences in income and employment between the native and foreign-born population. Foreign-born, have as a group, lower employment rate and income than the native-born and especially foreign-born women have experienced difficulties in entering the labour market. Differences in income and employment partly characterize spatial- and socioeconomic segregation and this thesis aim is to analyse if place of residence have a negative impact on the employment of foreign-born women. The study has been done using ordinary least squares (OLS) and district level data from six of the biggest cities in Sweden. The results show that certain education levels and household compositions are more important for the employment rate of foreign-born women when living in weak districts compared to when living in strong districts. It also implies that socioeconomic weak districts have a small and negative impact on the employment rate of foreign-born women. However, since the results decreased as more characteristics were controlled for, and the significance did not hold for all regressions, a conclusion of the impact of place of residence cannot be made.