Arctic Yearbook 2014
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and that, together with the cities, constitute the main labour markets (the “fringe” group), and 3)
“remote” areas with isolated local labour markets. Local labour market unemployment rates served
as a measure of opportunities available to a person searching for a job. Sex ratios might reflect an
overrepresentation of men in the labour market and, therefore, reduced employment opportunities
for women. The distribution of female immigrants according to place of residence and country of
origin is presented in Figure 1. There were six municipalities where females exceeded the male
population by no more than 2%. However, the overrepresentation of men in several municipalities
reached 10%.
Individual Characteristics
The average age of the women in the sample was 39.5 years (Appendix A1). Native women were
slightly older because younger people more often make decisions to leave, although immigrant
groups are considerably heterogeneous. The average YSM of immigrants from Finland and
Denmark was 27–28 years and they had an average age of 38.5 years. On the contrary, female
refugees from Somalia, who dominated the group of immigrant women from Central and Southern
Africa, arrived in Sweden 5 years ago on average compared to an average YSM in the entire sample
of 10 years, and their average age was 31.3 years.
Kiruna
Boden
Luleå
Gällivare
Övertorneå
Överkalix
Arjeplog
Skellefteå
Umeå
Vilhelmina
Dorotea
Storuman
Norsjö
Vindeln
Nordmaling
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
The Nordic countries
50%
Europe
60%
Refugees
70%
80%
90%
100%
Other
Figure 1: Female immigrant distribution by place of residence and country of origin (panel data 1995–2009).
Labour Market Outcomes of Migrant Women in Västerbotten & Norrbotten