Sweden: Parental benefits 'trap' immigrant women at home

Sweden: Parental benefits 'trap' immigrant women at home Via the Local: Less parental leave for those who have just arrived in Sweden with kids will help getting immigrant women out on the labour market, according to two Swedish experts. "This report points to a very real problem and may offer part of an explanation of why it takes so long to get out on the labour market," Minister for Integration, Erik Ullenhaag said to daily Dagens Nyheter (DN). According to statistics, 'women born outside of Sweden' is the group that is finding it the most difficult to establish themselves on the labour market. In a report to the ministry of finance, scientists Åsa Olli Segendorf and Tommi Teljosuo argue that parental leave traps immigrant women in poverty and is often used as a social benefit for several years, keeping women in the home. (...) Today, anyone who arrives in Sweden are entitled to 16 months of parental benefit (föräldrapenning) for their child, even if the child is four or five when he or she arrives in Sweden. The basic level of parental leave is 5,400 kronor ($857) tax-free per child per month. (source)