Haya moved to Switzerland after struggling to find work in Sweden

Architect Haya Alshahel has moved to Switzerland after repeated rejections in her search for work in Sweden. She is now doing an internship at an architecture firm, SVT reports.

“I had used up all my energy trying to find a job or internship in Sweden, so I started applying in other European countries,” Alshahel said.

Alshahel came to Sweden at 18, after her home city of Raqqa in northern Syria fell to the Islamic State group in 2014. She studied architecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, but did not find a job after graduating.

She believes she has faced discrimination in the labour market and says political rhetoric has contributed to employers becoming more hostile towards immigrants.

A recent study by Magnus Bygren, a professor of sociology at Stockholm University, found that applicants with names from the Middle East and the former Yugoslavia were 30 percent less likely to receive an initial response from a Swedish employer. The study was based on thousands of fictional job applications.

Bygren said discrimination was higher in workplaces with many native-born employees and in female-dominated professions. It was also reinforced when job advertisements emphasised competence. He said structured interviews, clear requirements and multiple assessors could help reduce bias in recruitment.

Last year, 52,418 people aged 25 to 69 were registered as emigrants in Sweden. Statistics Sweden said emigration increased most among people born outside Europe. Bygren warned that difficulties finding work suited to their skills could lead more people to leave, resulting in a loss of expertise.