Grete Brochmann: Governing immigration in advanced welfare states--the Scandinavian case

Ruud Koopmans (2010) argues that unfortunate combinations of welfare- and multicultural policies are unsustainable...Koopmans claims that easy access to equal rights, when combined with a generous welfare state, leads to weak labour market participation, high levels of spatial segregation and overrepresentation in the criminal statistics...The Koopmans perspective has gained attention, particularly in Denmark. The OECD’s annual International Migration Outlook for 2007 (OECD 2007) reveals that the Scandinavian countries are at the very bottom of a scale that measures integration of immigrants in the labour market – together with the Netherlands. Sweden performs worst of all. Concurrently, the Migrant Integration Policy Index (British Council 2007) places Sweden at the very top among 28 European states when it concerns integration policies, i.e. the formal extension of rights to immigrants. Norway is no 8, whereas Denmark is placed at the bottom end of the scale together with Eastern and Southern states...The  causal link - if it is the rights in question that serve to hinder immigrants to enter productive work - is not made clear by Koopmans or any others...Read more