Arctic Yearbook 2014 | Page 111

Arctic Yearbook 2014 111   and that, together with the cities, constitute the main labour markets (the “fringe” group), and 3) “remote” areas with isolated local labour markets. Local labour market unemployment rates served as a measure of opportunities available to a person searching for a job. Sex ratios might reflect an overrepresentation of men in the labour market and, therefore, reduced employment opportunities for women. The distribution of female immigrants according to place of residence and country of origin is presented in Figure 1. There were six municipalities where females exceeded the male population by no more than 2%. However, the overrepresentation of men in several municipalities reached 10%. Individual Characteristics The average age of the women in the sample was 39.5 years (Appendix A1). Native women were slightly older because younger people more often make decisions to leave, although immigrant groups are considerably heterogeneous. The average YSM of immigrants from Finland and Denmark was 27–28 years and they had an average age of 38.5 years. On the contrary, female refugees from Somalia, who dominated the group of immigrant women from Central and Southern Africa, arrived in Sweden 5 years ago on average compared to an average YSM in the entire sample of 10 years, and their average age was 31.3 years. Kiruna Boden Luleå Gällivare Övertorneå Överkalix Arjeplog Skellefteå Umeå Vilhelmina Dorotea Storuman Norsjö Vindeln Nordmaling 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% The Nordic countries 50% Europe 60% Refugees 70% 80% 90% 100% Other Figure 1: Female immigrant distribution by place of residence and country of origin (panel data 1995–2009). Labour Market Outcomes of Migrant Women in Västerbotten & Norrbotten