Response to interpellation 2023/24:10 on skills shortages in light of the green industrial transition in northern Sweden
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the skills shortage in the green industrial transition in northern Sweden. L argues that the government is working to restore the work principle and that Arbetsförmedlingen has a mandate for geographical mobility 1. L advocates for investments in vocational adult education, universities of applied sciences, and engineering education 1 2. L argues that the budget is consolidated due to war economy and inflation 3 2, that tax cuts make it more profitable to work 2, and that management should be via agencies with a focus on efficiency 4. S argues that the government is reducing resources for labor market policy 5 and that the budget implies a cut 6. S considers the government's response to be insufficient, short-sighted, and lacking a long-term strategy 7 8. S argues that there is a lack of incentives to move to northern Sweden 5 9 and that income tax cuts do not stimulate relocation 10 11. S questions why the government rejects a national strategy for skills supply 8.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Serkan Köse has asked me three questions regarding the skills shortage in light of the green industrial transition in northern Sweden. Serkan Köse has asked what concrete measures I have taken following his interpellation in April to handle the acute skills challenge, particularly in light of the large green industrial investments in northern Sweden, whether I plan to establish some form of crisis commission or skills supply commission to quickly and effectively manage the skills shortage, and finally whether any initiatives have been taken to create incentives to get more people to move to northern Sweden, where the skills needs are greatest.
The supply of skills in the labor market is a fundamental challenge. There are specific such challenges in northern Sweden linked to the green transition.
The Government continues the work of re-establishing the work line. The labor market policy needs to be designed so that more people enter employment and so that it becomes more cost-effective. Part of this is Arbetsförmedlingen's work to support, monitor, and follow up on job-seeking activity, including the geographical and professional mobility among the unemployed.
Arbetsförmedlingen also has several specific assignments linked to the skills supply. Among others, the agency shall develop its work with labor market policy interventions and employer contacts, take measures to improve geographical and professional mobility among job seekers, and develop its work with skills supply during large company establishments and company expansions. Arbetsförmedlingen shall submit a final report on the assignment in this part no later than October 13. The report will become a basis for the government's continued work. Arbetsförmedlingens kansli för omvandling och matchning i norr, with offices in Skellefteå and Luleå, is working further at the same time. The office works with both private and public employers to counteract the skills shortage to the greatest extent possible.
The Government Offices have commissioned a so-called letter-investigator to promote the coordination of state interventions that facilitate sustainable community building and rapid population development in Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties. This involves, among other things, facilitating for the municipalities affected by the transition linked to fossil-free production and electrification to plan, build, and manage sustainable and growing communities.
The Government has tasked Tillväxtverket with coordinating the work at a national level to support and create good conditions for the ongoing new industrialization and societal transformation in Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties. The Government also intends to develop a strategy with a corresponding focus. Competence supply is an area that will be addressed in the strategy.
For the supply of skills in the labor market, education policy is of fundamental importance.
In the budget bill for 2024, the Government proposes that 1,362 million kronor be allocated to strengthen regional vocational adult education and that 385 million kronor be allocated for vocational college education for 2024, including student grants. In total, the Government proposes that 1,747 million kronor be allocated, including student grants. The purpose of both investments is to meet the continued large competence needs throughout Sweden, enable the transition, and promote matching in the labor market. The investments can lead to more people training as, for example, assistant nurses, battery technicians, or train drivers. The Government further intends to launch a pilot project with a new form of vocational education for adults, at the upper secondary level, which has its starting point in the vocational college model.
In the budget bill for 2024, the government also proposes several different initiatives for education and research that shall strengthen the engineering nation Sweden and meet the great competence needs, including an expansion of the civil engineering programs and an increase of the compensation amounts for education within natural sciences and technology.
As stated, the government takes the competence challenge very seriously. This is done not least in perspective of what is happening in northern Sweden. I will closely follow the development moving forward.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
Swedish industry has a central role in the development of our society and will also be crucial for us to succeed with the climate transition. The Social Democratic government, which understood this, carried out important investments to accelerate this transition and launched ambitious initiatives such as a new industrialization strategy and Industriklivet, which aim to support the business sector and industry in the development of solutions that reduce emissions.
Mr. Speaker! Thanks to these initiatives, significant investments have flowed into the transition of the industry. We are now seeing progress such as the production of fossil-free steel and the conversion of decommissioned industries into innovative battery factories in Sweden. This green industrial revolution has created thousands of new jobs across Sweden, which stands in contrast to Fredrik Reinfeldt's claim that the industry was "basically gone" and the skepticism of the Liberals, who in their budget alternative for 2018 criticized the S-government with the words "the government seems to believe that entrepreneurship primarily flourishes through politically appointed innovation councils and new industrialization strategies" and thereby also rejected the funding for the new industrialization in Sweden.
Mr. Speaker! Despite this skepticism from the right-wing parties, the industrial jobs are definitely not "basically gone," which both Norrbotten and Västerbotten can testify to. But, Mr. Speaker, despite this success, we face significant challenges, especially in northern Sweden, where the skills shortage hinders sustainable growth. With the potential for over 50,000 new jobs, we must address the Minister regarding how we can fill these positions and services. Every fourth employee in the basic industry will soon retire. Despite this, Mr. Speaker, the SD government is reducing the resources that could strengthen the labor market policy and Arbetsförmedlingen. This cut of 2.1 billion kronor is deeply alarming and undermines the skills supply as the labor market's needs increase.
Mr. Speaker! Johan Pehrson's decision to allocate 50 million kronor to Arbetsförmedlingen in the supplementary budget was nothing more than an empty gesture. It was merely a redistribution of existing funds within the framework of the same budget. In next year's budget, the government is increasing the agency's administrative appropriation by 200 million kronor, which is good. This must, however, be put into relation with Arbetsförmedlingen's request for 770 million kronor for next year. With Johan Pehrson's policy, the unemployed will not receive the support they need. The period of unemployment will be prolonged, and social exclusion will increase. In other words: Johan Pehrson is not fighting unemployment. He is doing exactly the opposite.
Mr. Speaker! In order for Arbetsförmedlingen to manage everything that the government places on it, as well as manage to strengthen the skills supply, sufficient resources are required to, among other things, be able to employ staff who can improve the skills supply, not the other way around, Johan Pehrson.
Mr. Speaker! Sweden's climate transition and northern Sweden's industrial establishments need decisive political action, clarity, and a commitment that I believe the current government unfortunately lacks. Therefore, it is time for Johan Pehrson to realize the gravity of the situation and gather municipalities, the business community, trade union organizations, and other actors and take a holistic approach to seize this fantastic opportunity for our country.
Why does Johan Pehrson reject the idea of a national competence supply commission or a national power gathering? I ask the Minister specifically considering that actors, among others within the industry, are already pointing out that there is an acute need today. Furthermore, I wonder what specific measures the Minister intends to take to strengthen the attractiveness of northern Sweden, what initiatives and incentives are being considered to stimulate more people to move to and work in northern Sweden, and what the Minister has done since April, when we had this debate.
Adrian Magnusson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Serkan Köse for taking the initiative for today's debate. It concerns an issue that is very important not only for northern Sweden but for all of Sweden.
I intended to dwell a little on the question of increased incentives to get more people to seek work in northern Sweden from the rest of Sweden. The question is touched upon in the interpellation, and the Minister for Employment himself often speaks in various contexts about carrots and sticks. It is about some form of carrot and stick, one could say.
Mr. Speaker! We have high unemployment in parts of southern Sweden. In my own home region of Skåne, unemployment is 8.2 percent. It is the second highest in Sweden. Youth unemployment and long-term unemployment are also higher than in many other places in the country.
The situation is similar in many other places in southern Sweden. Södermanland, for example, has an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent. In Kronoberg County, it is 6.9 percent, and in Östergötland County, 6.5 percent. There is simply an unemployment in large parts of southern Sweden that is higher than the national average. This means that there should be good opportunities for people living in southern Sweden to move to northern Sweden and get jobs.
Mr. Speaker! This the Minister for Employment himself has noted quite recently. When he visited Boden, he noted that it is Swedish labor that shall primarily be used to fill the jobs that are needed in the north. It is a good and reasonable stance when unemployment is so much higher than the national average in several southern counties, so I have no objections to that.
In the interpellation, the question was asked whether the Minister for Employment has taken any initiatives to create incentives to get more people to move to northern Sweden, where the competence needs are greatest. The Minister for Employment has provided a rather detailed answer, which was just recounted here. But regarding just this aspect, I lack some reasoning from the minister.
In an interview in connection with the Minister for Employment's visit to Boden recently, the idea of establishing new supports to get people to move north is rejected. It is something that is not mentioned in the response to the interpellation. Instead, the focus is placed on individuals seeking jobs throughout the country and in that way, for lack of better words, feeling some kind of compulsion to move north. It is in any case how I perceive the response from Boden.
At the same occasion, the Minister for Employment emphasized specifically that it is the Swedish workforce that should be used in the first instance, as I have mentioned previously. I think it becomes somewhat double signals. In the response to the interpellation submitted here today, the answer that was given in Sveriges Radios P4 Norrbotten last week is not provided. The Minister for Employment mentioned in his interview a support of 2,500 SEK to get to a job interview and that it could potentially be increased. This is also not mentioned in the response to the interpellation.
Mr. Speaker! I want to give the Minister for Employment a chance to elaborate on his thoughts regarding creating incentives to get more people in southern Sweden to seek jobs in northern Sweden. It is an interesting question to hear more about. Are there any proposals being discussed at the Ministry, or is it the line from the Boden interview that applies?
If it is the line from the Boden interview that applies, does the Minister for Employment believe that many, with the 2,500 kronor in the back of their minds, will seek out northern Sweden and use the money to get themselves to the job interview? With such a strategy, it can well be considered an iron fist instead of a lovikkavante that is supposed to sweep. It is based on the premise that it is only the unemployed who can and want to move north and no one else. It is not those with jobs and good incomes who, with a move north, can cause their jobs to be opened up for people in southern Sweden.
Mr. Speaker! I will not stand here and speculate further or elaborate more on the text regarding this. I would like to hear the Minister for Employment's reasoning on these issues. I missed it somewhat in the interpellation response.
Linus Sköld (S)
Mr. Speaker! I am from Norrbotten. In Norrbotten, people read Norrländska Socialdemokraten. Today, a TT telegram is printed there which states: "Northern Norrland is Sweden's economic engine for the time being." This is based on the gross regional product and the growth there, in principle only the growth in northern Sweden is increasing. Nordea's chief analyst is quoted in the article and says: "Norrland has other problems, not least a shortage of labor. - - - The challenge is to stop the out-migration and increase the in-migration."
As my colleague Adrian Magnusson pointed out, the Minister for Employment was himself in Boden a short while ago. At that time, he gave an interview in a radio channel that one listens to if one lives in Norrbotten, namely P4 Norrbotten. In this interview, I noted a detail that Adrian Magnusson did not mention. In the Minister for Employment's answer, he delivers the message that there are no new plans for new support to attract labor from southern Sweden to the north. What will happen then? Adrian Magnusson explained excellently all parts except for one detail. Johan Pehrson returns to the point that he will lower the tax for those who work.
If we cut to the answer to the interpellation, I intend to quote the Minister for Employment himself. I am reading the part of the written answer that deals with adult education. These are still large figures that Johan Pehrson highlights. He says: 1,747 million kronor are added, including student grants for komvux and vocational higher education. It says: "The investments can lead to several people educating themselves as, for example, assistant nurses, battery technicians, or train drivers." It would have been nice if it had been true.
In the government's own budget bill for 2024, the one submitted last week, one can follow the development of the appropriation for support to adult education. The appropriation is named 1:17 in expenditure area 16. For 2023, 4,494 million was appropriated. The proposal for 2024 is 4,568 million. It is a difference of 74 million kronor, i.e., a nominal increase of the appropriation by 74 million kronor.
But we have ongoing inflation. The government usually speaks fondly of that. If one assumes that it needs to be compensated for when calculating how the grant leads to more people being able to educate themselves, one might, if calculating generously, need to adjust by 4 percent. If one calculates the grant up from the 2023 level by 4 percent, 4,674 million would be needed to maintain the level for the current year.
That means, in summary, that the investment that Johan Pehrson refers to in his answer is de facto a cut of over 100 million kronor. It will not lead to more people being able to educate themselves, on the contrary. This must come to an end. There must be a stop to the number-trixing.
I want to summarize the post like this: Neither a lower income tax nor invented initiatives on komvux will solve the skills supply in northern Sweden, Johan Pehrson.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the questions, and thank you to everyone who is participating in this interpellation debate! It pleases me greatly that everything I say is read. It is scrutinized and analyzed.
Let me take it from the beginning. We have presented a coherent budget before the Swedish Riksdag. It is a budget in a difficult time. Europe is at war. Sweden has de facto a war economy. We have already given a total support to Ukraine of 25 billion, and we have no alternative.
For the nation Sweden, it is crucial that we focus on external security and internal security. This also leads to many new government jobs. The Armed Forces are recruiting women and men of the right caliber. These are people who can do their part to protect Sweden in these difficult times.
The justice system has received large appropriations to recruit skilled women and men to the police, prosecutors, correctional services and courts. We are also investing heavily to not only work with the iron fist but also work with "lovikkavante", to quote what was said.
We are making major investments in the social services. Resources alone are not enough. We also rewrote the social services act at a time when we know that municipalities have been given a crime-prevention task. It affects all budget areas. It affects Arbetsförmedlingen, Jordbruksverket, and everyone who wants to take responsibility for a coherent budget in a Europe where we find ourselves in war and where Sweden is de facto forced to work with a war budget in large parts.
Inflation is very troublesome. One cannot give everything to everyone. One cannot compensate for every krona. We have plenty of compensation systems for students, which we are calculating fully. This also applies to people with guaranteed pensions, people who have sickness compensation, and people who are struggling. We are extending the housing allowances.
When it comes to the question of what we are doing, I am glad that it is nevertheless noted that things are going well for Norrland. Things are going well for Norrbotten and for Västerbotten. It is booming there. People are moving there, and even more people must move there. There are different strategies for this. We believe that it can have a positive effect on labor force participation and the will to build a new fantastic future if it pays off more to work. People may move from Örebro or, for that matter, from Skåne to Norrbotten.
We focus on the opportunities. We are investigating personnel options. We have improved the expert tax. For me, that is not strange either. It is good that many Swedes who are not in jobs today are educating themselves and then moving into the jobs that exist, for example, battery technicians. But it can also be that one must work with labor immigration, and there we have different thoughts on how it should be regulated to counter the shadow society. There, the opposition, in this case the Socialdemokraterna, and we agree. But we have different means.
We have now given a major assignment to Arbetsförmedlingen to report back. We have appointed the investigator to see how we should proceed with the skills supply. It is correct: We cannot compensate for everything. But in the large-scale initiative we are now undertaking after corona, we are, for example, expanding the beloved vocational college education, which the Liberalerna introduced and the Socialdemokrater built upon, to new record levels. We do this to provide Sweden with skills in the ongoing green transition in our entire country, not least in Norrland.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer, even though it did not contain very much answer to the questions that I have asked!
Let me state, Minister, that Swedish industry today faces a recruitment crisis, where one in seven recruitment fails. The industrial employers write: Acute competence needs in industry. Report after report comes from the industry showing that we are in a recruitment crisis. It is expected that the politics and the government nationally act.
Mr. Speaker! This hinders companies' expansion and their opportunity to take on new assignments. And it is not only the industry's development opportunities that are at stake; this skills shortage also threatens Sweden's competitiveness and attractiveness for investments.
The government's response to this crisis is insufficient and far too short-sighted. Despite Johan Pehrson's emphasis on vocational training, these efforts are insufficient to meet the needs that exist today. Johan Pehrson's budget proposal for 2024 appears as a flimsy masking of the drastic cuts in education and transition that were carried out already this year. These are cuts that have intensified the problems with the skills supply.
We Social Democrats, unlike the SD government, submitted proposals for over 20,000 more educational places already for 2023 as a direct response to this growing crisis. Now, in hindsight, the SD government seems to be making an effort to return some of the funds to adult education. Despite this, Mr. Speaker, their efforts are still insufficient. They are half a billion behind compared to the latest Social Democratic budget for 2022.
Johan Pehrson and the SD government are trying to pay off part of the educational debt created through their previous cuts. However, the substantial lack of funding and resources remains. This constitutes not only a burden for our education sector, Mr. Speaker, but also a long-term risk for Sweden's competitiveness and labor market.
The welcome but insufficient increase in support for vocational higher education and vocational adult education, together with the government's promises of more educational places and increased funding, does not fully address the skills shortage. This applies in particular in northern Sweden.
Mr. Speaker! What we need is not merely superficial adjustments in the budget. If Sweden is to become the world's first fossil-free welfare state and if we are to accelerate the pace of the climate transition while simultaneously creating many thousands of jobs, we must ensure the supply of skills and meet the labor market's real needs.
Mr. Speaker! For this, as has been said, a long-term and comprehensive strategy for skills supply is required, which is crucial for strengthening Sweden's competitiveness in an increasingly tougher global competition.
Given what I mentioned earlier about that one in seven recruitments fails and that this threatens Sweden's competitiveness and attractiveness for investments, which we have seen not least from the industry's reports, I want to ask the Minister: In what way does the Government and the Minister intend to address and solve the current problems with skills gaps, especially in northern Sweden, to meet the labor market's and the industry's future needs for qualified labor?
Adrian Magnusson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for Employment for the answer! I understood it as the Minister for Employment meaning that tax cuts are the answer to getting people to move from southern Sweden northward.
I am not convinced that people with a villa, school-aged children and perhaps a dog or two in Perstorp, Åtvidaberg or Alvesta will move north just because they get lower taxes. We are possibly not in agreement there. They probably do not want to move to Skellefteå, Boden or anywhere else in Norrland just because they get lower taxes. I do not think it is that simple.
But it is my hope that the Minister for Employment continues to analyze, reflect on, and reason around these issues and that they are discussed frequently both at the ministry and within the government as a whole.
I am convinced that an active labor market policy is required. It requires a belief that we, through policy and political will, can reach the goal of full employment and ensure that we solve the future—to some extent, the challenge in Norrland is already here—difficult challenge with this. It is not enough with an over-reliance on the idea that it is the free market alone, in full majesty on its own, that will solve this. It requires political power, political will, and political courage to solve the challenges that exist in northern Sweden.
Linus Sköld (S)
Mr. Speaker! Right must be right, Johan Pehrson cries out here in the chamber. I think that we who involve ourselves in the debate, as the Minister expressed it, should also be thanked for doing so.
The fact is that Johan Pehrson should be glad that he has a rigorous opposition. He himself is sloppy, stretches the truth, and would rather talk about something else. In his almost four and a half minute long contribution just now, he devoted a maximum of twenty seconds to skills supply policy. The rest was about Ukraine or social services and a bit of everything, but not about what we are debating. I think the next contribution should be about that.
One cannot compensate for every krona, says Johan Pehrson in his response. It is possible that one cannot do so, but one could argue that what the government presents as multi-billion investments would still involve increases compared to last year's levels. But they do not. As Serkan Köse pointed out, it is a nominal decrease of half a billion compared to 2022. Compared to 2023, the proposal is a decrease of 100 million.
It is not about compensating for every krona. It is about doing what you say. If you say there are to be more places in adult education, then there must be more places in adult education, and that is not what happens with the policy that Johan Pehrson pursues.
I think Johan Pehrson is the one responsible. How is he going to solve the competence supply problems? He is responsible for this now. As Adrian Magnusson points out: To come forward with an income tax cut - how is that going to stimulate people to take the jobs that are growing in northern Sweden when you make broad income tax cuts for everyone who works?
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Mr. Speaker! We must still stay there. Inflation is still part of the difficult social problems that the nation Sweden faces. We must bring down inflation to get more investments started. We must bring down inflation so that we get lower interest rates. We must bring down inflation so that individuals do not become poorer and so that companies can make long-term decisions.
I interpret it benevolently, as that the Social Democrats are still involved in the inflation and are in the real economy, where one is forced to make difficult prioritizations.
Competence supply is based on equipping our youth school and ensuring that more young people move on from primary school to upper secondary school and can become part of a future as self-sufficient individuals. Then they will also become part of building Sweden, for example in the green transition. Absolutely nothing happens if one comes out of primary school with incomplete grades, if one does not make it through upper secondary school and if false prophets shout at you and you are drawn into gang crime.
Mr. Speaker! Then I mean in all seriousness that the blue text called the state budget is a coherent budget. Yes, but look! There it lies. How good! Then a book has been selected from several. I am the first to say that we have been forced to prioritize. I wish we could have employment agencies in every municipality - that would be fantastic. But I do not believe that it is necessary to, so to speak, use the state's resources, the taxpayers' money, most effectively.
I mean that the investment we are making in vocational adult education for next year leads to more training places than if we had not made the large investment. I mean that the investment we are making in the university college, which we are now ramping up, leads to more competent employees in the green transition. And I mean that the unique engineering initiative we are now making in the country Sweden will serve the green transition and the industry, not least in Norrbotten and Västerbotten. That is the path we are taking.
Then there is the question of these tax cuts. I do not believe that anyone leaves Perstorp, Alvesta, or for that matter Örebro for a tax cut. But it is about making it more profitable to work and at the same time ensuring that one retains the opportunities that exist for education. It is also about, as I stated in my response, increasing the emphasis on requirements. People must be prepared to apply more broadly if they have ended up unemployed or have been away from the labor market for a very long time. This applies, so to speak, to what professional field one has but also to the geographical area. That is the path we need to take.
I do not dismiss any efforts, because I cannot tell anyone exactly how the cyclical development will be. The nation faces very, very difficult tests if we do not get a handle on inflation and if we do not get a handle on the domestic security problems we have or the external threats that the nation faces. Of course, we can look at whether one should have additional strengthened support to move. But fundamentally, it is about ensuring that the people who go from being uneducated, or not having sufficient education, to becoming educated feel: Now there is an opportunity to move, because the jobs are here. That in itself is a big step. In the beginning, one has to commute. Then one can bring the whole family along to build a life in a future called Norrbotten. It can sometimes be much better than Perstorp, even.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! Twice the Minister has been given the chance to answer the question. One can observe that the Minister chooses not to answer the question. The Minister lacks a strategy for this important issue.
The Minister refers to a book that my colleague showed. There are several books that we have looked at regarding the government's so-called initiatives. I mentioned the labor market policy. Linus Sköld highlighted the educational measures. One can state that there are no initiatives that we see in the government's budget. That Johan Pehrson refers to inflation shows that he is dodging the problem.
The answer today to Swedish industry and to all the municipalities concerned is therefore that Johan Pehrson has no policy for how we should ensure that Sweden gets a national effort to handle the competence shortage that we have on the Swedish labor market.
I state once again, Mr. Speaker, that the government's measures so far are insufficient and far too short-sighted. I have asked the Minister the question several times. I would like to take the opportunity to ask it once more - the Minister has two minutes to answer: Does the Minister consider the current measures sufficient to address the competence shortage that we have today in the Swedish labor market?
I have, as I have said in previous debates, emphasized a national mobilization of forces and extensive cooperation between the state, the municipalities, the business community, the trade union movement, and other actors to handle the skills shortage we face. Industry calls it an acute need. The issue is so acute that it is desired that the government, the state, should act today.
I have one final question for the Minister. I would like the Minister to be able to answer it. Why does the Minister reject our proposal for a unified national strategy for skills supply when successful models in our neighboring countries clearly show the advantage of, as I mentioned, cooperation between the government, labor market partners, educational institutions, trade union movements, and other actors? I would very much like to have an answer to this.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Something that keeps coming back from Serkan Köse is this matter of us needing to have a commission. I am for action. But I can state that here in front of me in the chamber sits a competent commission. These are people who are driven to strengthen Sweden in the long term, to ensure that Sweden becomes an even better country and that we solve the challenges we have ahead of us. Therefore, I am very interested in the initiatives from this part of the commission, that is to say, the Committee on the Labour Market. I am very interested in the motions that you will now lay on the table of the Riksdag. Then we can weigh them against what the government has presented. I look forward to this very much. This may certainly contain one thing or another nugget of gold and a good deal of things where one consumes, for the most part, everything that the government has put on the table.
Mr. Speaker! When I write answers to interpellations, it is a polished language, if I may say so. But from the polished language it also appears that we have commissioned an inquiry to promote this. It may have to work a bit alongside the commission that is now sitting before me. We have given a mandate to Tillväxtverket. They may get the chance. We do, after all, govern via the authorities in Sweden. It is a tradition we have had for quite a long time. I think we should preserve it. And we are waiting for a final report from Arbetsförmedlingen in the middle of October, which we will all discuss and debate.
But, Mr. Speaker, I finally want to warn against the donors of all good gifts when it comes to the citizens' tax money. We must have efficiency in the measures we take. We must have a clear focus on moving people from exclusion to being able to become nation-builders. It is about ensuring that the educations and the measures we have in the labor market policy area, whether it is "rusta och matcha" or whether it is labor market training, maintain high quality. It should lead to real jobs and preferably in Norrland.
Thank you for an important debate, the commission!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.