[VOE] Officials in the Swedish municipality of Bengtsfors have been forced to ask the national government for aid due to the enormous financial burden that has been incurred on taxpayers as a result of taking in too many welfare-dependent migrants.Stig Bertilsson, a local politician for the Moderate Party, mentioned that the letter didn’t shy away from identifying the source of the budget problems as being related to the vast numbers of "new Swedes" who’ve been taken in, and who rely on social-welfare benefits SVT reports.
Bertilsson told SVT reporters, "Costs in municipalities that have received new arrivals have continued to be substantial even when government revenues have stopped. This creates a large negative hole in the municipal cash register."
After being questioned about tax revenues coming from newly arrived migrants that could narrow the deficit gap, Bertilsson replied that he had hoped that in the long term there would be more tax revenues coming from migrants, but thus far there hasn’t.
He added that the labor market in Sweden "has a long way to go."
Last year’s figures released by the Swedish Public Employment Service revealed that unemployment rates among migrants are much higher than those for native Swedes. The report showed a 19.9 percent unemployment rate for migrants compared to a measly 3.6 percent for native Swedes.