Many still only have part-time or temporary jobs and participate in publicly supported employment schemes through the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV).
Read this article in Norwegian on Arbeidsliv i Norden
Researcher Guri Tyldum from the Fafo research foundation has been studying the introduction programme and other measures that were offered to Ukrainians on their arrival in Norway.
“The most important thing is that an increasing number are getting jobs. The question is what kind of jobs, and whether they get a secure connection to the labour market,” says Tyldum.
The downside to fast-tracking
When a large number of Ukrainian refugees arrived in the Nordics after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, there was concern for how long it would take for them to enter the workforce.
For the authorities, receiving and following up many refugees at the same time is costly. So it is natural that the aim has been to make as many as possible self-sufficient as quickly as possible, argues Tyldum.
Focussing solely on getting people into work quickly can have a downside, however.
The Nordic countries have knowledge-intensive labour markets. As a result, refugees can quickly find jobs in sectors with fewer requirements when it comes to language and formal qualifications.
The issue is that these jobs often pay less, are less regulated and offer more precarious working conditions.
“We’ve seen instances where refugees have found work quickly and ended up in sectors where they are paid little, despite working hard. They might often find themselves moving in and out of jobs and various employment support programmes offered by NAV,” says Tyldum.
She points out that researchers have seen this kind of revolving door pattern among other refugee groups.
Experience shows that countries that spend more time on training and integration in the beginning see refugees gaining a more stable foothold in the labour market in the longer term.
Language can be crucial
As a result, Tyldum argues that it is important to look at integration over several years and not only consider how quickly a newly arrived refugee get their first job.
Language training is an important part of successful integration. Ukrainians can quickly find work where colleagues understand each other. This can make the transition into working life easier but also reduces their need to learn Norwegian.
“If they go straight into jobs with other people who speak Ukrainian or Polish, they won’t necessarily learn the local language. Learning a language is important for creating opportunities to find more permanent employment,” Tyldum points out.
For this reason, she argues, it is not necessarily a bad sign if a Ukrainian refugee is without a job after a short period of time. Not being employed could mean the individual is in training.
“The fact that Ukrainians have not started working might well be because they are gaining skills, like going through language training.
“Some might also be outside of the labour market because they got little training in the beginning, because it was believed Ukrainians would not be staying very long,” she explains.
Differences between municipalities
Reports studying how Ukrainian refugees have been received show large differences between municipalities and how they interpreted the relevant rules in Norway.
Some offered limited services at first, precisely because they expected the Ukrainians would soon return home. This had an impact on how much language and other training the refugees were offered.
Tyldum believes this illustrates a fundamental dilemma in integration policy: Should the aim be to get refugees into any job as fast as possible, or for them to find a more permanent job after some time has passed?
In recent years, Norwegian integration policy has taken a more long-term approach. For Ukrainians, this means a stronger focus on helping them establish themselves in the labour market over time.
“After a few years, the hope is that they will find work and get more permanent jobs,” says Tyldum.
Large differences in the Nordic region
The Nordic countries chose different strategies when many Ukrainian refugees arrived in 2022. In the beginning.
Ukrainians in the Nordic region – some figures
The number of foreign-born people in the Nordic region, especially from Europe and Ukraine, has risen considerably after Putin’s Russia launched its full-scale invasion war in Ukraine in 2022, according to the Nordic Statistics Database (NSD). The database does not offer complete figures but is useful for painting the bigger picture.
Since 2022, Denmark has welcomed the highest number of Ukrainian refugees. Iceland has received the most per capita and now has 9.5 Ukrainians per 1,000 citizens.
The immigrants’ labour market participation varies and the number of foreign-born people in work is lower than for the rest of the population. The proportion of immigrants gaining a foothold in the labour market increases the longer they have lived in their adopted countries, according to a 2024 NSD report.
The figures are divided into three groups and show clear common trends across the Nordic region. The group classified as foreign-born has the lowest level of labour market participation. Second-generation immigrants come next, while the rest of the population has the highest level of labour market participation.
Statistics Norway has the latest numbers for Norway. In January 2026, 85,461 Ukrainian immigrants were living in Norway. This was a 7.3 per cent increase on the previous year and includes some who did not arrive as refugees.
Figures from NSD show the actual numbers of Ukrainians arriving between 2017 and 2025. For Denmark, the numbers were 8,649 rising to 45,267. Sweden saw an increase from 7,735 to 41,576. In Finland, the numbers grew from 2,047 to 22,996 and Iceland saw an increase from 293 to 3,664.
Sweden was very restrictive in the services it offered. People with temporary protection did not receive the same level of support as other refugees.
“Sweden was worried about receiving too many refugees from Ukraine. In the beginning, it was decided not to offer language training or introduction programmes in the same way as Norway did,” says Tyldum.
This was later changed. Those who arrived in Sweden initially received less support than those who arrived in Norway, but the differences have become smaller. Norway has also tightened its support somewhat, Tyldum explains.
Comparisons can also be made with Finland, where the number of Ukrainian refugees per capita equals that of Norway.
Due to the different strategies, it is interesting to compare the different Nordic countries. The employment figures show how fast different groups enter into the labour market, but the numbers do not necessarily say anything about how well integrated they are.
For Tyldum, therefore, the employment rate alone is not a sufficient measure.
It is also necessary to look at wages, the proportion of full-time and part-time employment, the type of employment contract, how long people stay in a job and whether they progress in the labour market.
Quick or lasting?
Many Ukrainians have skills that are transferable to Norway. At the same time, Tyldum argues that Norway might have overstated just how transferable some of these skills really are.
“Some Ukrainians have limited English skills. They might also benefit from the fact that there are large groups of Polish speakers in the Norwegian labour market. This can make it easier for them to find their first job,” she says.
But the first job is not necessarily the one you stay in, Tyldum explains.
“Some Ukrainians work in sectors that have low formal qualification requirements, including cleaning, hospitality, warehousing and logistics. Some also work in health and social care.
“For some, this can be a stepping stone into finding a job in Norway. For others, it can become a situation where they remain in low-paid work on short-term contracts and precarious attachments to the labour market,” she explains.
Tyldum therefore believes it is necessary to follow developments over several years. The main challenge now is to see whether Ukrainians who have found work actually settle into stable jobs, gain higher wages and get to use more of their skills.
“The question is what the aim is when accepting refugees. If it is just to get as many of them as possible to become self-sufficient as quickly as possible, you might get high employment figures.
“But if the aim is lasting integration, you also have to look at the types of jobs people get and how their connection to the labour market develops over time,” Tyldum points out.
The question then, for both authorities and employers, is not just how many Ukrainians find employment. Equally important is how many get permanent jobs, career development opportunities and the chance to use the skills they bring with them.
The next phase
After several years of large numbers of refugees arriving from Ukraine, integration efforts are entering a new phase. The initial challenge was to get people into work or other forms of activity quickly.
Now, the question is whether those same people will remain in employment.
Those who spent more time learning Norwegian and learning new skills in the beginning might, in the longer term, gain a more stable connection to the labour market than those who went straight into low-paid and temporary jobs.
This is also why Tyldum believes current employment figures must be interpreted with caution.
High employment figures could be a sign that integration is successful. But they could also hide the fact that many remain in a precarious part of the labour market, on part-time contracts, short contracts, low pay and recurring periods without employment.
What happens over the next few years will therefore be crucial in determining whether the high employment rate among Ukrainians is the start of a permanent integration into Nordic labour markets, or whether many remain on the margins of working life.
