SWEDEN'S IMMIGRANTS' DISPROPORTIONATELY HIGH

UNCLAS STOCKHOLM 000235

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/NB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SOCI PINS PGOV KCRM ASEC SW
SUBJECT: SWEDEN'S IMMIGRANTS' DISPROPORTIONATELY HIGH
REPRESENTATION IN CRIME & WELFARE STATS

Ref: Stockholm 192

Sensitive but unclassified. Not for internet.


1. (SBU) Summary. Two recent GoS reports show immigrants in
Sweden to be overrepresented in crime and sick leave statistics,
which are interpreted as being indicators of integration
shortcomings. The level of attention applied to the issue of
integration stands to increase as we approach the September 2006
parliamentary elections. End Summary.

Immigrants Overrepresented in Crime Statistics
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2. (SBU) According to a report by the National Council for Crime
Prevention published in December 2005, immigrants or individuals
with at least one immigrant parent perpetrated about 45 percent of
all crimes during the period 1997-2001. In regard to the most
serious felonies -- murder, manslaughter, assault and rape -- the
percentage was even higher.


3. (SBU) A National Council press release about the report
focused on other findings showing immigrants are often wrongly
suspected of crimes -- possibly in deference to the politically
sensitive nature of the crime statistics. The Council report
cites failed government integration strategy as partly responsible
for the over-representation of immigrants in criminal activity.

Immigrants Use More Sick Leave
--------------

4. (SBU) Just days after the crime report the National Social
Insurance Office issued a report on use of sick-leave. This
report concludes that immigrants use sick-leave more often than
indigenous Swedes. Those of certain national origins, such as
people from North Africa, the Middle East and Turkey, show high
rates of sick leave, especially among women. These groups take an
average of 34 sick days per year, as compared to 20 days for
ethnic Swedes. The report offers as a possible explanation that
immigrants often fill low status jobs with low wages and often
difficult work


5. (SBU) The sick-leave report stated that long-term
unemployment can lead to loss of health insurance. Among ethnic
Swedes some 5 percent are outside the social insurance system,
while among people from North Africa and the Middle East the rate
is as high as 30 percent. These people are often long-term
recipients of state welfare, which is arguably generous enough to
serve as a disincentive to work.

Comment
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6. (SBU) Sweden's population is approximately 9 million. The
rapid arrival of large numbers of immigrants (Sweden granted
873,040 residence permits between 1980 and 2004) combined with a
widely-held perception that immigrants are a burden upon society
due to welfare dependence and disproportionate criminal activity,
has generated a measure of hostility towards them. Although none
of the political parties currently in parliament advocate a more
restrictive immigration policy, 1.4 percent of the electorate
supported the extremist, xenophobic Sweden Democrats (whose online
paper was shut down after publishing the Mohammed cartoons - see
Reftel) in the 2002 parliamentary elections.


7. (SBU) Sweden has significant immigrant integration problems,
resulting in high rates of unemployment and welfare dependency,
and, as recent studies indicate, criminality. Sweden, with its
generous worker benefits and high carrying costs per employee,
also makes it expensive and difficult to create the entry-level
positions these immigrants could fill. Combine the disincentives
to job creation with the relatively generous welfare benefits and
actual prohibitions against asylum seekers from taking employment,
and you end up with an idle group with few productive outlets.
These results of these recent studies coupled with concern about
local effects from the Mohammed cartoon controversy are likely to
raise a notch the level of concern about integration during the
parliamentary elections campaign.

NOBLE