After having described the immigrant population in Sweden by country of origin employment among foreign born and their children is surveyed.Employment rates among first and second generation immigrants are lower than among native born.Particularly low are employment rates among persons born in low or middle income countries, persons who often are easy to distinguish from natives by physical appearance, name and language skills.Reasons for such a state are most likely several and interrelated.We discuss explanations that focus on characteristics of the immigrant, the process of hiring work applicants, the relatively high minimum wages in the Swedish labour market as well as decisions taken by politicians and their implementation.