The labour market situation for young people in socially deprived areas

Young people living in socially deprived housing areas have a considerably more difficult situation in the labour market than other young people in Sweden. This is shown in a study by the Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs.

The situation young people find themselves in and circumstances around their childhood and adolescence vary in Sweden. The report Fokus 08 - The living conditions of young people in socially deprived neighbourhoods in Sweden highlights the situation in four socially deprived housing areas in Sweden: Araby in Växjö, Hjällbo in Göteborg, Husby in Stockholm and Rosengård in Malmö.

The results show that young people living in socially deprived housing areas have a considerably more difficult situation in the labour market than other young people in Sweden.

Employment rate for youths in deprived areas
Employment rate for young people in the deprived neighbourhoods is 20-30 per cent units lower than in other parts of the municipalities. Furthermore, young women are in work to a lesser extent than young men. The employment rate also differs between the young depending on where they were born. Young people born in Africa and Western Asia have the lowest employment rates.

Experience of open unemployment
Fokus 08 displays statistics of how large a share of the population in Sweden has been officially registered unemployed at any time during 2006. With unemployed we here mean somebody who lacks occupation, is registered as jobseeker at the employment office and willing to immediately accept a job if one is offered.

The rate of young people (20–25) with experience of unemployment is 27 per cent in the whole of Sweden. Experience of unemployment among the young is however; much more widespread in the four socially deprived suburban areas studied in Fokus 08.

The largest proportion was found in Hjällbo and Araby where 40 per cent of the young had been unemployed some time during 2006. In Rosengård the proportion was 36 per cent and in Husby 25 per cent. We also see that young people whose parents have a higher income have less experience of unemployment than youngsters whose parents have lower incomes.

Proportion of young people who neither study nor work
Fokus 08 has calculated the proportion of young people who neither study nor work. According to this estimate, 14 per cent of the young of 20-25 years of age in the whole of Sweden are excluded from both the labour market and education.

The ratio of young people excluded from the labour market and education is 38 per cent in Husby, 24 per centage units greater than in the Stockholm local labour market area. The ratio is around 35 per cent in Hjällbo and Rosengård, 21 per centage units greater than in respective local labour markets. In Araby the ratio is 27 per cent, 17 per centage units greater than in Växjö local labour market area.

About the socially deprived areas

• Distressed neighbourhoods have a young population.


• The proportion of young parents is considerably higher in the four studied areas compared with the country at large.


• There is no great difference in the proportion of students in the deprived areas and the country at large.


• The number of people between 18 and 64 years of age who receive long term income support was considerably higher in the studied areas, between 8-21 per cent, while the number in the whole country was 1,5 per cent in 2006.