Stockholm experienced a sixth straight night of riots early Saturday, with cars torched in several immigrant-dominated suburbs, as Britain and the United States warned against travelling to the hotspots…. Due to its liberal immigration policy, Sweden has in recent decades become one of Europe’s top destinations for immigrants, both in absolute numbers and relative to its size. But many of those who have arrived struggle to learn the language and find employment, despite numerous government programmes. Official data show unemployment was 8.8 percent in Husby [the Stockholm suburb in which the riots began] in 2012, compared to 3.3 percent in Stockholm as a whole.
It’s worth adding that Stockholm is the most prosperous part of Sweden. The overall Swedish unemployment rate stands at around 8.4 percent (seasonally adjusted) but, as in much in the world, the official statistics conceal both underemployment and the extent that individuals have opted out of the labor market altogether.
It’s a stretch to compare Husby with one of the bleak banlieues that surround Paris, but nevertheless it’s a suburb that is a long way from the prosperity of downtown Stockholm. And, (via Press Europ) from Lena Mellin of (the left-wing) Aftonbladet, there’s this:
Husby is similar to many other problem suburbs around Stockholm. They all have a large population of immigrant origin, a high number of people on welfare, many young people dropping out of school, and a very high unemployment rate. According to figures from the Swedish Employment Agency, 20 per cent of youths in Husby had no work at all in 2010. One in five youths aged between 16 and 19 was unemployed or not in education…Of the 12,000 inhabitants of Husby, a little more than 60 per cent were born outside of Sweden. If we add those who were born in Sweden but whose parents were both born abroad, this proportion rises to 85 per cent.
Unemployment among those born outside Sweden stands at 16%, compared with 6% for native Swedes, according to OECD data. Among 44 industrialised countries, Sweden ranked fourth in the absolute number of asylum seekers, and second relative to its population, according to UN figures.
It’s quite often claimed in Europe (and not just in Europe) that mass immigration is vital if welfare states are to be maintained on something approaching their current scale. This is despite the fact that the continent already has a very high rate of structural unemployment (the appalling headline numbers are bad enough, but the underlying picture is even worse) that is likely to grow still further thanks to numerous self-inflicted wounds (of which the euro is, for now, the most damaging) and, as in many parts of the developed world, globalization and technological change.
I may be missing something, but I don’t quite see how the unemployed are going to be able to pay for the pensions of the retired.