Considerable variation in incomes between immigrants in Norway

The registered unemployment among immigrantsOslo The registered unemployment among immigrants . Photo Norway Today Media.

Immigrant children are overrepresented in the low-income group in this country, but the gap is huge between groups from different background countries.

Figures from Statistics Norway (SSB) show that only 5.4% of children without an immigrant background lived in a household with a persistent low income in 2015.

Among immigrant children, the figure rose to 38%, wrote Vårt Land newspaper. There are two particular reasons cited; there are many low-income immigrants amongst the population, and there has been a high level of immigration in recent
years.

Figures from Statistics Norway show a substantial discrepancy. Children from Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Eritrea and Afghanistan are strongly overrepresented in low-income group.

There are far fewer in this category among children with backgrounds from India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

SSB researcher, Jon Epland, highlights two of these differences.

‘Firstly, the poorest children come from large families. In households at the other end of the scale, there are normally 2.5 to 3 children.

Secondly, employment in families with Somali, Syrian and Iraqi backgrounds is low. Among the families of other immigrant backgrounds,it is common that both parents are working’, he said.

SSB figures show that among immigrants of Somali origin, only 36% of men, and 22% of women are in work.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

 

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