In areas where unemployment is at its highest among those born in Sweden, it is at its lowest among immigrants

The Local:

The situation is amplified by the fact that a number of local authorities are actively employing people born abroad, according to an as yet unpublished report seen by news agency TT.

"Many of those we've spoken to in rural and sparsely populated areas believe that the it's worth doing things on a 'micro' scale," said Patrik Johansson, a researcher at the Swedish National Rural Development Agency.

"As an individual you're not invisible, and it is easier to get a job."

The agency will publish the report on Tuesday and it will be handed over to the government just after Christmas. The findings were based on figures from Statistics Sweden as well as employment offices in rural areas.

The numbers show that people with a foreign background - born abroad, or with one or both parents born abroad - are more likely to find work in a district where unemployment is highest among Swedes. And vice versa.

In Sweden's densely populated urban areas 58% of immigrants are employed, compared to 79% of ethnic Swedes.

But in rural areas, 61% of immigrants have jobs, while the figure for ethnic Swedes drops to 76%.

What this article seems to be saying is that immigrants take jobs that would otherwise have gone to ethnic Swedes.