You can work, pay tax and build a life in Sweden and still be treated as an outsider.

One in five people in a national Delmi survey said they often or always felt isolated from Swedish society. Most planned to stay, and many rated their Swedish highly.

The survey followed people who received residence permits between 2014 and 2016. Respondents had little contact with people born in Sweden, even though many rated their Swedish highly. Work and language created practical stability, but neither guaranteed close relationships with people who already lived here. Isolation can continue after employment.

A person can arrive on time, meet targets, pay tax and speak Swedish all day while having nobody to call at the weekend. They can understand the workplace and still remain outside the informal relationships where information, friendship and opportunity move.

The Equality Ombudsman's evidence adds another part of the picture. Ethnicity is the most common discrimination ground in complaints about working life. People report not only single incidents but a series of decisions and comments that accumulate into unequal treatment. Being employed does not prevent someone from being overlooked, doubted or repeatedly asked to prove competence.

Paying tax proves contribution. It cannot stop a colleague, recruiter, landlord or institution from treating someone as temporary, suspect or not fully Swedish. That is why employment statistics cannot carry the entire meaning of integration.

A measure of belonging would ask more. Can people build close relationships outside their own background? Do qualified employees advance? Can families find stable housing? Do residents trust public institutions and feel that those institutions trust them? Can their children describe themselves as Swedish without being corrected?

None of this makes employment less important. It makes the goal more honest. Sweden should measure whether people can participate, form relationships and receive equal treatment after they have done what the integration debate asked of them. A job is a beginning.

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