Foreign-born women with lower measured skills work full time less often

Foreign-born adults take part in formal education more often than Swedish-born adults at every skill level. Among women born abroad, full-time work is much less common for those with lower literacy or numeracy.

Statistics Sweden's analysis of PIAAC 2023 examines literacy, numeracy, education and work among adults in Sweden. The survey measures literacy and numeracy on a scale from 0 to 500. For the education and working-hours comparisons, Statistics Sweden focused on people aged 25 to 65 and grouped results into proficiency levels.

The education result runs against the idea that foreign-born adults are simply failing to gain skills. They participated in formal education more than Swedish-born adults across every measured skill level. Common routes included Swedish for Immigrants, municipal adult education and higher education. Statistics Sweden also found that many people who began with Swedish for Immigrants continued into other forms of study.

Learning also happens outside formal programmes. Work-related courses and staff training were common among both foreign-born and Swedish-born adults. Among people who had not taken part in non-formal education, a larger share of foreign-born adults said they wanted to participate. The report identifies lack of time because of work or family, cost, and courses offered at unsuitable times or places as common barriers.

Time in Sweden matters to the measured results. Foreign-born adults who had lived in the country for more than ten years had significantly stronger average skills and less variation in their scores than people who had arrived more recently. Those who came as children generally scored higher than those who arrived as teenagers or adults. Education, age at arrival and employment all shape the pattern.

The language of the test is a major limit on how the numbers should be read. PIAAC was conducted in Swedish, so a person without sufficient Swedish was assessed at a low level in literacy, numeracy and problem solving. The scores therefore measure the ability to complete those tasks in Swedish, not every skill a person may possess or use in another language.

Working hours show why the distinction matters. Among foreign-born women with low literacy or numeracy scores, 54 per cent usually worked at least 36 hours a week. The share reached 81 per cent among foreign-born women with good or very good skills. A similar relationship appeared among Swedish-born women. Foreign-born men with low scores worked at least 36 hours significantly more often than foreign-born women in the same group, while the gender difference was not significant among those with good or very good skills.

These figures show an association, not a simple chain of cause and effect. Study can strengthen skills, and work can provide language practice, training and experience. At the same time, stronger measured skills are linked to fuller participation in work, while access to work and learning is shaped by employers, course availability, family responsibilities and cost. Statistics Sweden also found that foreign-born adults often had more difficulty becoming established in the labour market even at the same education level.

The theme report points to vocational education and validation of existing skills as important ways to improve matching with jobs. Its findings also give employers and public agencies a concrete test: whether training is available to the people who want it, at times and prices they can use. The gap between 54 and 81 per cent cannot be reduced to individual effort when work itself is one of the places where adults continue to build the skills being measured.

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