How many high-skilled workers are coming to Sweden?
Sweden gave out 11,278 new work permits for jobs requiring a university level or advanced university level education in 2024.
That is 2,803 fewer than in 2023 and 4,336 fewer than in 2022, the year towards the end of which government came into power. It is even 2,240 below the number awarded under the Social Democrats in 2021, when Sweden was still emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic.
READ ALSO: 'We are working intensively to attract more high-skilled workers to Sweden'
It is a similar story when you strip out work permits awarded for jobs requiring an advanced university education. There were over 3,000 fewer permits awarded last year than in the year the government took power.
READ ALSO: Record number of foreigners quit Sweden to move to Germany
What about keeping high-skilled workers in Sweden?
The number of work permits being renewed has also been in decline.
Only 18,515 high-skilled worker renewed a work permit in 2024, 2,260 fewer than did so in 2023. In 2022, only 10,750 work permits for high-skilled workers were renewed, a knock-on effect of the sharp drop in first-time awards during the main pandemic year.
READ ALSO: How to get a Swedish work permit faster: Inside tips from Migration Agency staff
The proportion of work permits going to high-skilled workers has increased
As a proportion of total work permits awarded, however, the share high-skilled workers took of the total permits awarded rose in 2024 from 68 percent to 84 percent, as a result of an even sharper fall in the number of low-skilled workers coming to Sweden.
In the first two months of 2025, the share of permits taken by high-skilled workers has risen still higher to 87 percent.
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