Discovering Europe
Migration: a characteristically Swedish sensitivity
The Swedes still remember the great floods of emigration of the second half of the 19th century when, forced by hunger, around one and a half million people migrated to the United States. “This long tradition of immigration justifies why the Swedes are very connected to the rest of the world”, explains Henning Melber, executive director of the Dag Hammarskjöld foundation. After 1950, Sweden, a country of emigration, became a country of immigration.
“Since the 1950s, the social dimension includes international solidarity”, continues Henning Melber, “even if it has deteriorated these past few years”. Thus, Stockholm welcomed many people who, after the various African independence bouts, suffered the attacks of neo-colonial groups. “Sweden also welcomed American soldiers who refused to fight in Vietnam and opponents to Pinochet’s dictatorial regime in Chile”.
A suppler immigration
Amidst the current economic recession, Sweden has decided to make its labour immigration regulations more flexible. “We are at the cutting edge in this domain and our action comes at the right time”, declared Tobias Billström, Minister for immigration and asylum policy in December 2008, soon after the regulation was adopted. “It is a good thing to know that we already had this debate whereas it has not even started in some countries. In the coming years, labour competition will become increasingly harder, and when the economy takes off again, we will be in a better position”. Swedish pragmatism helping, this position responds to the demand of companies who are in desperate need of IT staff, engineers, welders, and healthcare staff and who anticipate a penury of workforce before 2001 due to a great wave of retirements.
