Unveiling Integration: Educational Enrollment Pathways of Adult Refugees in Sweden

Adult refugees often struggle in the host country’s job market, largely due to a lack of destination-specific human capital. Participating in adult education programs may promote refugees’ labor market integration. This study examines the educational pathways of adult refugees arriving in Sweden in the period 2000-2006, following them over a 10-year period after arrival. By applying sequence analysis to longitudinal register data, containing information about participation in different types of education, five typical patterns are identified: (1) Exclusion, characterized by labor market inactivity, (2) Short enrollment in language courses and early labor market establishment, (3) Mixed careers, (4) Long participation in municipal adult education and late labor market establishment, and (5) Emigration. A multinomial logit model reveals distinct differences between refugees in the exclusion pathway and those in the early career pathway. Women, lower educated, older individuals, and those originating from less privileged countries are more likely to follow the former, while men, higher educated, younger refugees, and those from European countries are more likely to be in the latter. Additionally, having children upon or shortly after arrival and spending longer time in the first three years after arrival on parental leave decreases the likelihood of following an early career trajectory. Furthermore, male, and higher educated refugees are more likely to undertake the emigration path. These findings underscore the importance of structural factors, including discrimination and gender norms, which can impede the labor market integration pathways of specific groups of refugees, despite their participation in Swedish educational courses.