Dynamics of racialization, exclusion and discrimination-vulnerabilities and precarity for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees in the Swedish labor market

Finding a stable, full-time job is the cornerstone of stability and security for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees living in Sweden. However, throughout the last few decades, it has become increasingly difficult for them to obtain permanent employment. For those who successfully navigate the challenging asylum application procedure, including dehumanizing credibility tests assessing the applicant’s queerness, and receive a temporary residence permit, systematic obstacles have been set in place to hinder access into the Swedish labor market, thereby denying them tangible material resources and the possibility to create sustainable networks in their new society. The precarious employment situation of LGBTQI+ newcomers is marked by constant insecurity, inadequate compensation and a lack of accessible occupational niches. Opportunities for queer asylum seekers and refugees are often limited to jobs in restaurants and in hospitality, construction/manual labor, caring and cleaning professions. 

The Swedish labor market operates on segregation along racial, ethnic and nationality lines. Tendencies towards segregation between different ethnic groups are well-documented (Englund, 2002:22). Many foreign-born persons, including LGBTQI+ forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, are chained to jobs far below their competencies. Many hold a university degree but are nevertheless not employed according to their qualifications. Their skills remain as a result unutilized. 

The dismissal of professional/education related competencies obtained from a country other than Sweden, but more specifically from extra-European countries, is further enabled through the Swedish Migration Agency, which obligates (LGBTQI+) asylum seekers to have their qualifications evaluated (Migrationsverket, 2023). Many employment opportunities are regulated through Swedish legislation that defines the requirements for working within a certain profession, such as authorized interpreters and translators, veterinarians, most health care professions, security guards and teachers. (LGBTQI+) asylum seekers must apply for the right to practice these professions, even if they have received and can provide proof of the necessary qualifications/training (Swedish Council for Higher Education, 2023). Some professions can only be practiced if the job seeker has Swedish citizenship or a Swedish qualification, namely positions as judges, priests or in the police force (Nordic Co-operation, 2024). These rules prolong the transitional job-seeking phase, while intensifying the socio-economic vulnerabilities and precarity of LGBTQI+ forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees residing in Sweden. Starting from November 2023, new guidelines for obtaining a work permit were enforced by the Swedish Migration Agency, following the decision from the Swedish Government, which requires applicants to receive an income “that is at least 80 per cent of the current median salary (…) SEK 28,480 (Migrationsverket, 2024a). One of the avenues for LGBTQI+ forced migrants to be granted a residency permit in Sweden is via finding a job and receiving a work permit. These extreme changes regarding the maintenance requirement for work permits significantly reduce the possibilities for persecuted LGBTQI+ persons to find a safe and secure life in Sweden. 

Under the amended Swedish Aliens Act (2021), LGBTQI+ asylum seekers granted refugee status receive temporary residence permit valid for three years (EC, 2021). After three years, (LGBTQI+) refugees must apply for an extension of their residence permit in Sweden. Finding a full-time job in Sweden can function as a basis for acquiring a residence permit extension (Migrationsverket, 2024b). Therefore, easy and sustainable access into the Swedish employment sector is of utter importance for LGBTQI+ forced migrants seeking international protection in Sweden. However, LGBTQI+ asylum seekers are rarely able to procure stable, full-time employment in Sweden, even after receiving their refugee status. In addition, the working conditions for newcomers, in comparison with Swedish-born persons, are significantly more physically strenuous and monotonous, leading to a vast range of illnesses and accidents (Englund, 2002:24-25).  

Inequalities between individuals of Swedish and foreign background are namely reflected within the differences in labor market integration across different regions/countries of origin. Newcomers from European countries find access into the Swedish labor market relatively easy in direct comparison with newcomers from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Moreover, research indicates that carrying a Middle Eastern sounding name is attached to economic penalty (Bursell and Bygren, 2023:8). The findings of Bursell and Bygren’s research show that Swedish “employers contribute to the reproduction of ethnic segregation by excluding foreign-named applications from native occupational niches, and including them in immigrant occupational niches” (idem:19). On a general note, newcomers from Africa and Asia receive the lowest amount of integration opportunities into the Swedish labor market. Consequently, LGBTQI+ forced migrants are subjected to higher unemployment rates, low-status work, lower incomes, as well as higher risks of having time-limited employment (Rydgren, 2004:700-701).  Furthermore, blatant practices of racial discrimination in the Swedish labor market are widespread. 

Rydgren (2004) identifies three mechanisms of exclusion as upheld within the Swedish labor market: statistical discrimination, networks effects and institutional discrimination. Statistical discrimination relies on stereotypical thinking in relation to the job seeker’s group belonging (ethnic, racial, cultural, etc.) and the supposed characteristics attached to the latter. As such, statistical discrimination is based on false and erroneous beliefs which reinforce racial-ethnic prejudices and bigotry, while overestimating in-group homogeneity (low/non-existing variance between individuals within a certain group). Networks effects and spillover discrimination involves network recruitment, with individuals holding gatekeeper positions, namely native Swedes, and allocating employment opportunities on the basis of homophily (the tendency to associate and form connections with those sharing one’s defining characteristics). In Sweden, ethnicity constitutes one criterion of homophily, resulting in (LGBTQI+) migrants, asylum seekers and refugees receiving unfavorable treatment and reduced access to the employment sector, as well as fewer social resources/connections.  Lastly, specific rules, instructions or everyday practices which carry discriminatory consequences can be classified as institutional discrimination. Examples specific to the Swedish context include unrealistic requirements for Swedish language proficiency (idem:708-712).

In a field experiment testing for the existence of ethnic discrimination in the hiring process within the Swedish labor market, Bursell collects empiric evidence pertaining to discrimination as perpetuated by employers (2007). Job applications were sent to job openings advertised on Platsbanken, limited to the Stockholm area, across 15 occupational categories. The field experiment tested for evidence of ethnic discrimination within the process of being offered a job interview, as well as the impact of individual characteristics such as sex, social background and level of qualification. Bursell assigned each pair of applications one Swedish sounding name and one foreign sounding name (primarily an Arabic sounding name or a name from the Horn of Africa region). All applications included an exam from a Swedish senior high school (idem:10). Each application consisted of a CV and a personal letter with sufficient variations, which matched the unique requirements for the particular job opening in question (idem:11). Bursell’s study found a net discrimination of 41.3 percent. More precisely, for every ten job applications sent out by a Swedish sounding name profile before being contacted by an employer, “a person with the same merits but with an Arabic or African sounding name has to apply 21 times to be contacted” (idem:14). Out of 15 occupations, only two “did not reveal discrimination that was statistically significant” (idem:22). The well-documented evidence of ethnic-racial discrimination mechanisms ingrained in the Swedish labor market as such effectively ban the vast majority of (LGBTQI+) forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees from gaining access into the employment sector and from securing their economic participation as a whole. 

On the note of precarity, the severely constrained job choices and the lack of sustainable alternatives LGBTQI+ forced migrants are exposed to within the Swedish labor market create a vicious cycle of being dependent on exploitative work to sustain their livelihood and, in certain cases, the livelihood of their family members who were unable to engage in cross-border movement. The multifaceted socio-economic insecurities queer newcomers experience on a daily basis in regards to racialization , discrimination, poverty and work instability create a ‘hyper-precarity’ trap for the most vulnerable groups, namely asylum seekers and refugees. (Lewis et al., 2014:175). Moreover, the global dispersal of economic crises, only intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to subject workers to extreme vulnerability, especially migrant, asylum seeker and refugee workers, who are commonly among the first to lose their employment in situations of economic downturn and face disproportionately higher risks of reductions in pay and worsening work conditions. Due to the lack of access to substantial socio-economic networks and other support mechanisms, LGBTQI+ forced migrants are typically compelled to accept any job offered, which often culminates in the normalization of abusive work conditions and meager pay for queer asylum seekers and refugees in Sweden. These challenges are only exacerbated by the unavailability of options to improve their working conditions (idem:175-176). More precisely, LGBTQI+ forced migrants cannot return to their home countries, as they will certainly suffer from persecution, retaliation, hate crimes and potentially murder as enforced by their government or inner (family) circle on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. In this way, the reality of being tied to a drastically limited socio-economic and physical space prolongs the hyper-precarity of LGBTQI+ forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Sweden. 

On average, the working conditions of (LGBTQI+) migrants, asylum seekers and refugees showcase higher rates of harmful occupational exposures, leading to poor health outcomes and health disparities, workplace injuries and occupational fatalities (Moyce and Schenker, 2018). The majority of migrant workers are employed in the service industry, including domestic work, food services, manufacturing and construction work and agricultural work. Women are six times more likely than men to perform domestic work abroad (idem:352). These occupational niches which are available for (LGBTQI+) forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees often fall into the category of 3-D jobs: dirty, dangerous and demanding. Persons engaged in such professions are exposed to longer working hours and worse conditions than non-migrants, as well as human rights violations, abuse and violence. They are expected to take higher risks on the job, work without adequate training or protection and lack effective mechanisms or safeguards for filing complaints and reporting unsafe working conditions. In particular, LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and forced migrants facing deportation in Sweden and beyond and/or who lack authorization to work or are at risk of losing their jobs in their new societies are heavily affected by the above-mentioned circumstances, putting them at disproportionately high risk of experiencing occupational fatalities and injuries (idem:352-353). Additionally, migrant workers are rarely granted the opportunity to sign a permanent job contract, which is documented to be associated with poorer health (idem:353). In many cases, (LGBTQI+) forced migrants may only access the (Swedish) labor market through the informal economy and in irregular/illegal settings (Craig, 2002:156).

In terms of exposures and working conditions, (LGBTQI+) forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are subject to extreme weather exposure, especially those working in the construction, natural resources and maintenance sector, while those working cleaning jobs or operating within the service sector at large interact on a daily basis with aggressive chemicals. Moreover, they are overrepresented in physically demanding jobs, exposing them to a number of physical hazards. Due to the reality of (LGBTQI+) migrant workers being employed in precarious and insecure jobs with no standardized employment contract, conditions of uncertainty and unhealthy dependency are created for them, leading to workers accepting the significant risks and dangers of the job out of fear of losing their already precarious livelihood. In return, (LGBTQI+) forced migrants experience high levels of stress related to their working conditions, coupled with poor mental health outcomes, only compounded by the possibility of deportation or unemployment. Additionally, 3-D jobs commonly display a disregard for following safety regulations, including a lack of protective working equipment and safety training (Moyce and Schenker, 2018:354-355). The dynamics of segregation on the basis of race, ethnicity, legal status, nationality and gender, as fostered within the Swedish labor market, puts LGBTQI+ forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in a particularly vulnerable position, where their physical and mental health is severely compromised, they lack agency and socio-economic support networks and receive little institutional protection and/or empowerment. The Swedish labor market as such engenders a system of “immigrant exploitation and a hierarchical racial division of labour” (Groglopo et al, 2023:10). The discrimination and marginalization of (LGBTQI+) forced migrants culminates in consistently negative social, economic and health outcomes, which are however “attributed to the characteristics of the marginalized group rather than the structural barriers they face” (idem:16). On a general note, the prominent racial division the Swedish society generates high socio-economic inequalities for (LGBTQI+) forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, while structural racism is reflected in the norms, practices and institutions of the labor market and employment sector.

At RFSL Newcomers Malmö, we prioritize the alleviation of risk factors and daily challenges LGBTQI+ forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees continuously navigate. We are committed to creating supportive, inclusive and empowering spaces for queer newcomers to instill a sense of security, safety and belonging within the community. This namely entails enabling LGBTQI+ newcomers to actively participate in Swedish society. Active participation is of multidimensional nature and one of the most immediate ways it can be achieved is through helping LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees to find stable, ideally full-time employment. However, the intersecting challenges such as segregation in the Swedish labor market across ethnic and racial lines, structural racism and discrimination, the disqualification of newcomers’ competencies, the precarious socio-economic conditions perpetuated for marginalized groups in the Swedish employment sector, the lack of permanent residence permits and new strict regulations for work permits turn job-seeking in Sweden into a thoroughly unrewarding, unequal and more than lengthy process. Negative health outcomes are among the most notable consequences for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees when they are unable to find stable employment in Sweden. Moreover, conditions of unemployment and economic precarity counteract prospects for coping with or healing from the myriad of traumatizing experiences the vast majority of queer forced migrants have been and continue to be subjected to. The systemic barriers impeding easy and sustainable access into the Swedish labor market for queer asylum seekers and refugees result in greater isolation, uncertainty and dependency, making them highly susceptible to mental health issues. The RFSL Newcomers Malmö team strongly urges the Swedish government to implement positive changes to allow LGBTQI+ forced migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to live a dignified socio-economic life based on active participation, security and empowerment in their new society.

By Kaja Simmen

References

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