Response to interpellation 2023/24:329 on the streamlining of labor market policy funds
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L believes that the government prioritizes cost-effective, workplace-oriented measures and that vocational adult education and vocational higher education are the most effective labor market policies 1 2. L argues that Arbetsförmedlingen has good conditions to prioritize those who need it most and that the agency should increase its efficiency through digitalization 1 2. L argues that 200 million kronor have been added 3 and that S advocates for an oversupply policy 3. L argues that S previously implemented a policy that they are now blaming others for 4. S argues that Arbetsförmedlingen has too low assignment capacity due to budget cuts from L and SD 5 6. S believes that the government does not prioritize active labor market policy 6 7. S argues that Arbetsförmedlingen cannot fulfill its mandate with the existing resources 7. S wants to double the number of places within the labor market training 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 if I and the government intend to restructure labor market policy grants to increase efficiency and ensure that the allocated funds reach the unemployed who need them most. Furthermore, he has asked what measures I and the government intend to take to strengthen Arbetsförmedlingens capacity and flexibility in the allocation of labor market interventions, especially in light of previous budget cuts and staff reductions.
He has also asked whether I and the government intend to take any measures to increase the flexibility in the redistribution of resources between different labor market policy appropriations in order to improve the adaptability to the current labor market situation. Finally, Serkan Köse has asked whether I and the government intend to develop a plan to reform nystartsjobb and other labor market measures to ensure that they reach the right target groups and contribute more effectively to reducing unemployment.
The expenditures for labor market policy measures have been lower than the allocated funds, which has resulted in savings on appropriations. This, however, cannot be explained by the structure of the appropriations. It has been the same for a number of years, but the utilization rate of the allocated funds has varied. And savings on appropriations have occurred on several appropriations simultaneously. The current structure provides Arbetsförmedlingen with good conditions to prioritize measures for those job seekers who are in greatest need of it.
The Government considers that available funds could have been used more efficiently so that more job seekers could have participated in measures to get closer to the labor market. According to the agency's regulatory letter, the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) aims to prioritize work with people who are or risk becoming long-term unemployed and particularly prioritize people who have been without work for more than two years.
In accordance with the budget bill for 2024, Arbetsförmedlingen's administrative appropriation has been increased by 200 million kronor to meet increased unemployment and strengthen control work. The agency's administrative resources need to be used more effectively in relation to its mandate when it comes to, among other things, the assessment and planning of support and interventions for job seekers, the monitoring of the unemployed's job-seeking activity, and support in employers' recruitment work. In October 2023, Statskontoret was commissioned to analyze and assess the efficiency of Arbetsförmedlingen's use of the administrative resources.
The Government assesses that there is still room for efficiencies within the labor market policy and intends to prioritize cost-effective measures that are close to the workplace and which contribute to a high level of job-seeking activity and transitions to regular employment.
When it comes to the accuracy of the measures, a report from IFAU published in October 2019 shows that those who participate in nystartsjobb and subsidized employment are, to a large extent, individuals with a weak position on the labor market and a high risk of ending up in long-term unemployment.
The government continues the work of re-establishing the work line. Everyone who can work shall do so. It shall pay to move from benefits to work. High requirements shall be set on those who seek work, combined with that the unemployed are offered the right support and measures. There shall also be clear activity requirements in order to receive benefits.
Arbetsförmedlingen has also received a continued mandate in this year's regulatory letter to increase geographical and professional mobility among the unemployed. Those who are without work must be prepared to retrain or seek work in another municipality.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
This debate is somewhat connected to the previous one. There is a correlation between Arbetsförmedlingen, Arbetsförmedlingens resources and the streamlining of labor market policy measures.
Again: We face serious challenges on the Swedish labor market today. Unemployment is increasing, and we have a gigantic matching problem, which is crucial for economic growth but also social cohesion. Therefore, I at least think it is a bit worrying that the money set aside for labor market measures is not being fully utilized.
If we read Arbetsförmedlingen's reporting for 2023, we can observe that the funds allocated for the unemployed ultimately do not reach those who need them most to receive support. Instead, the money will be sent back to the state.
This inefficiency is due to many different factors, including Arbetsförmedlingen's reduced assignment capacity as a result of the extensive budget cuts that Johan Pehrson and Sverigedemokraterna have contributed to in recent years. This has led to reduced staff at the agency and made it difficult for the agency to utilize the resources fully. It has also weakened the agency and the agency's ability to offer effective and targeted labor market interventions. That must be taken into account. The assignment capacity is significant in this case.
Unlike Johan Pehrson, we Social Democrats believe that the active labor market policy needs to be strengthened. Arbetsförmedlingen, the local presence across the entire country, and the measures that lead to employment need to be strengthened. There is a kind of skepticism among the right-wing parties and not least the current government towards the active labor market policy. It has affected the agency and its capacity.
The budget that slaughtered Arbetsförmedlingen in 2019 has had consequences and has, once again, led to reduced resources and that staff have been laid off and has affected how the funds and resources are used.
It would be good if the Minister could elaborate a bit more on why Arbetsförmedlingen is returning money. The Minister notes, however, that the current structure gives Arbetsförmedlingen good conditions. Is it the case that Arbetsförmedlingen has sufficient resources to fulfill its mandate? It would be interesting to hear the Minister say something about that.
The Minister also says that available funds could have been used more efficiently. Then one can ask why that has not been done. Why has Arbetsförmedlingen not been able to use its resources and funds even more efficiently?
Is there any connection between staff reductions, reduced assignment capacity, and unused funds? If the Minister can say something about that, it would be interesting to hear.
The Minister responds that the appropriation to Arbetsförmedlingen is being increased. That is not correct. We have had a rather long debate about this previously. Arbetsförmedlingen has issued a press release stating that they will be reducing their staff. That does not match what the Minister says.
Teresa Carvalho (S)
Mr. Speaker! I want to start by thanking Serkan Köse for initiating this important debate. He asks many questions, and I look forward to hearing more answers from the Minister for Employment regarding how he views these parts.
What I primarily think is that when we have discussed these issues in the Committee on Employment and when we have also had the privilege of speaking with Arbetsförmedlingen about this, I hear that they are quite clear that a major reason why money has been returned in previous years is a lack of guidance capacity. This is a discussion that we had last year. In plain Swedish, it can be expressed as that they have had too few staff to manage to meet all job seekers, give them time and support, and set the requirements that are needed.
There is much to say about this. Suppose, for example, that the police had returned money because they had not been able to spend all the resources they received in the budget. Then I do not believe that Johan Persson's government would have said that the answer is to reduce the appropriation because one obviously cannot manage to spend all the resources.
I believe rather that the answer would have been that a long-term capacity reinforcement was needed for the authority to be able to translate the resources and the mandate into the operations we want to see in order to reach the goals that the government has set. But that is not how the government reasons when it comes to Arbetsförmedlingen and the labor market policy.
I simply conclude that this is due to the fact that the government, in close cooperation with the Sverigedemokraterna, does not prioritize labor market policy. They have, in fact, never really done so. The last time it happened, they brought down the big hammer on labor market policy and severely worsened the security in the Swedish labor market and the opportunities for active labor market policy. Even the work environment policy got its share.
We sense - no, now I was a bit too cautious - we see how history repeats itself. It is only cuts in the labor market area, both in the toolbox and in the agency's appropriations. When it comes to the active measures, one is soon at a halving, Johan Pehrson, if one combines the budgets that the Liberals and the right-wing parties have had influence over. This applies to both the recent years when they have sat in government and the budgets they got through when the Social Democrats sat in government. It is soon a halving of the active measures.
In the responsible authority, the government is cutting back. They say they are strengthening, but we hear for ourselves how Arbetsförmedlingen describes it. It is a cut of 250 million kronor. It is clear that it affects the authority's possibilities to help and equip those people who need support and help to get into work.
I hope we can get some answers here from the Minister for Employment.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Mr. Speaker! The most active, strong labor market policy that exists is to have a knowledge school and a good adult education for the person who needs to further their education and perhaps acquire a new profession to become more easily employable. It is the most effective labor market policy.
We know that eight out of ten who have attended vocational adult education get jobs. Nine out of ten who have attended vocational higher education get jobs. That is why the government prioritizes those types of educations.
Whoever I meet – battery builders, car builders, wind power technicians, wind power entrepreneurs, people in electrical installations – I hear them all say that this is a fantastically important initiative that allows more people to get jobs. They receive a good education through yrkesvux and the university college. It is an active labor market policy.
Mr. Speaker! I believe that the participants in the debate are overlooking a certain fact alongside Arbetsförmedlingen's important efforts.
Arbetsförmedlingen has received a budget plan presented to them where it appears that we focus on the fact that the 10,000 skilled employees who exist today can do more than what is achieved today. They can do more and achieve increased efficiency. This is also believed within the agency. Their entire digitalization project is, after all, about becoming better and sharper when it comes to meeting people and managing tax funds. One must choose because there are limited funds.
Sometimes one can get the impression that the opposition has infinite money. But one must choose: vocational colleges and adult education or administrative funds for Arbetsförmedlingen. I have no other opinion than that the Social Democrats in opposition will always have more money for Arbetsförmedlingen than a liberal, bourgeois government – otherwise, I almost think the moon will fall down to earth!
You do not see the other. You also do not see the entire transition support. When that package is expanded, there will be up to 10 billion in resources to help with the transition.
You also do not like to see what the complementary actors do within the framework of Arbetsförmedlingen to help people. It is operational activity close to the people. It is there to help those who stand outside the labor market - not infrequently quite far outside it - to get into work. Those are the priorities we make.
Overall, we have an expenditure area to manage together with the Committee on Employment. It is around 90 billion that is to go towards helping, protecting and supporting people and getting them into work. Work is important for self-esteem and for being able to support oneself and one's family and gain a bit more autonomy. But it always builds on knowledge, competence, school and education in young years or later. There is no other way there.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! The Minister spent half of his time talking about adult education. Let us look at it!
In the government's budget bill for 2024, one can see the development of appropriations for the support for adult education. For 2023, 4,494 million kronor were appropriated. The proposal for 2024 is 4,568 million kronor. If one does a quick calculation in one's head, one can see that the difference is an increase of 74 million kronor. Johan Pehrson's answer to the challenges we see today on the Swedish labor market is 74 million kronor, nominally, to adult education.
At the same time, we have not even factored in inflation, the economic crisis, and the compensation for inflation. If you factor all of this in, you cannot claim that it is an increase, just as there is no increase in active labor market policy or the resources for Arbetsförmedlingen.
Despite the fact that Johan Pehrson emphasizes the vocational training, we can state that these efforts are insufficient to meet the needs that exist today. I mentioned earlier the large regional differences between southern Sweden and northern Sweden. From the year 2022 to the year 2023, resources for adult education were reduced. Now, they have tried to compensate for it a little bit.
If we look at the labor market policy, which the discussion concerns, we can see that there are fewer appropriations and resources for active labor market policy. In Arbetsförmedlingen's budget basis to the government for 2024-2026, which Johan Pehrson has surely received, it states that there is "a reduction in the appropriation level of approximately 200 million kronor, from approximately 7.8 billion in 2022 to 7.6 billion for 2023" and that "the expectations for Arbetsförmedlingen are high and resource-intensive."
In the agency's basis for the government, it also states: "Several development initiatives are underway within the agency to increase efficiency and production capacity. Although the agency expects certain efficiencies gradually, we assess that expectations within several parts of the mandate require increased resources." This is what has been written to the government.
The speaker continues: "In order to be able to convert allocated funds into operational activities, the agency also needs long-term budget conditions. In the current situation, the agency assesses that there is an imbalance between the program part and the administrative funds which, together with the upcoming announced budget reductions regarding the administrative appropriations, complicates long-term planning. Arbetsförmedlingen needs sufficient personnel resources to carry out its mandate." All of this is stated in Arbetsförmedlingen's budget submission to the government.
The Minister says that resources to the agency are being increased, but the agency itself says it is a cut. There is an expectation that we should be efficient and increase capacity, but we will not be able to manage that with the existing resources we receive from Johan Pehrson, says Arbetsförmedlingen. This does not add up. When it comes to the resources for adult education and for Arbetsförmedlingen and the labor market policy, what the Minister says does not add up with the budget.
Johan Pehrson! What is your answer? How is this going to be managed? I asked four very concrete questions, but I feel that I am not really getting answers to my questions. I would be grateful if the Minister could devote some of his speaking time to answering my questions.
Teresa Carvalho (S)
Mr. Speaker! Johan Pehrson says that we Social Democrats do not see the big picture and that we do not see the transition study support. I mean, come on! Is there anyone who hasn't seen the transition study support sufficiently, is it the SD government? It is Johan Pehrson's colleagues who have bungled this and caused many people to potentially miss their chance to take part in it. We have stood in the chamber and pointed this out a number of times. Has Johan Pehrson completely stuck his head in the sand and missed that discussion?
Johan Pehrson also says that the SD government is cutting back on labor market policy to instead prioritize education. As if we Social Democrats would not prioritize education! We prioritize it more than the SD government. For example, we invest significantly more in adult education. But we also invest more in labor market policy, where, moreover, the labor market training also is included. We Social Democrats want, for example, to double the number of places within the labor market training.
The vocational college, which Johan Pehrson spoke about, is a fantastic activity that I also want to expand. But it is actually not the answer for all job seekers in our country. There are many job seekers in our country who need significantly more basic support before it is relevant for them to, for example, attend a vocational college education. In that case, we need a public employment service that can handle that mission and that has sufficient resources to have enough employment officers on site to meet, help, and equip these individuals. But the SD government's answer is to cut back. I can only regret that.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Mr. Speaker! During the pandemic, large investments were made to handle the difficult situation that Sweden was in. The government at the time was driven forward by a majority in the Committee on Finance and later by the Riksdag, which took a multitude of measures. In this nationally very difficult crisis situation, enormous temporary investments were made in education. The government at the time did not choose to extend them in any budget. In its final budget, it announced that they would disappear. I think that was quite good, Mr. Speaker. It was said that the pandemic was over in that part and that we were transitioning to a post-pandemic situation. It is from there that we make these powerful investments in education, which is so important.
I am confident that Arbetsförmedlingen, with a new board - soon also with a new director-general, I hope - will have good conditions to drive this change work to become more efficient. We know Arbetsförmedlingen, which has 10,000 employees and wants to get more out of its work machine. It is recognized that we have laid out the long-term conditions in the budget. We have a dialogue with Arbetsförmedlingen to ensure that it is as efficient as possible. It is to the given level that we make additions. Now we have added 200 million.
But it is unthinkable that authorities would not need to save and tighten their belts when people and companies in Sweden face tough times. There are authorities that S, V, MP and C together always think should be protected. This always leads to an oversupply policy in the long run, because if you add up the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Green Party and the Centre Party, it is completely incoherent. There is no compromise made there, and the opposition stands split. The Social Democrats often have more resources for the Public Employment Service in opposition than in government position.
The student grant was planned by the previous government. I think what the government said then is reasonable: that one must be careful with practice and control, so that this enormously important grant does not go to educations that it is not intended to go to. Once the grant has been in place for some time, the efficiency will become much better. It is also about ensuring that there are relevant educations at universities and colleges, among others, that make it possible to take advantage of this opportunity to study for a semester or a full year in the middle of life to increase one's competence.
The people whom Arbetsförmedlingen is responsible for and who are registered there are often people who have challenges with the language and with basic education. Arbetsförmedlingen cannot, by definition, teach them the language or educate them to, for example, a primary school level. That must take place in the municipal adult education and in the university college. Unfortunately, there is no other way.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
It is not quite an answer to the questions I have asked and not to the discussion and debate we have today regarding the streamlining of the labor market policy and the resources that are sent back to the state and how it should be handled. I have not received any real answer to that. Probably 6 billion kronor were sent back to the state. I have not seen the annual reports. We will have to see what is written in it. The Minister should say something.
I asked a question about reduced capacity and whether the Minister sees any causal link between the reduced allocation capacity and the budget cuts that the Liberals have been involved in contributing to. It would again be interesting to hear: How are we to handle the situation we have today on the Swedish labor market?
The Minister speaks of authorities having to cut back and reduce resources. But Arbetsförmedlingen is not an authority that needs to cut back, especially not in an economic crisis. Rather, resources need to be increased for Arbetsförmedlingen so that other people and authorities can manage.
Arbetsförmedlingen has a different role. Arbetsförmedlingen shall equip people, help people, support people and match people. It shall help companies to find the right competence. The Government has a responsibility to ensure that Arbetsförmedlingen is equipped to meet not only today's but also the future's challenges on the Swedish labor market.
Again: How is Arbetsförmedlingen to become more efficient than it is today when it itself points out in its own budget proposal to the government that it will not be able to achieve it with the funds and resources it has today and the expectations that exist from the political side?
We may need to devote more time to adult education next time. But that is not quite correct. What the Minister of State says here is very beautiful, but something else is stated in the budget.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Arbetsförmedlingen had tough years during the recent years before the liberal bourgeois government took office. The Social Democrats did as usual everything to stay in power and implemented a policy that is now being blamed on someone else.
The budgets disappeared, but one still wanted to stay in power, and one did not take the consequences of that. Now one blames everyone else. The Social Democrats have never governed, and it has always been wrong. If one thought something else, then one thinks something completely new now. It is interesting to take part in.
If we look at the budget savings in recent years, we see that in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 there were quite significant budget savings on program grants and new start jobs. That is also how it looks for 2023. This is connected to the fact that the right people have not been there. They may have had too low language skills and too low education levels. Then one must meet that to help people and give people the strength to get into work. It is also connected to the fact that unemployment has developed somewhat more positively. It has not reached the level that one had calculated.
Serkan Köse gets answers to the questions in the interpellation response. That is how the oversight power works. I deliver an answer. Serkan Köse and I have a conversation about it, and Teresa Carvalho comes in and participates in the debate. I understand that you are not satisfied with the answer. It would be strange if you were clapping your hands here. You are the scrutinizing opposition. You should have your own proposals. Therefore, it is not so strange.
Mr. Speaker! I have commissioned a task for the National Audit Office to review the existing efficiency and what needs to be done at Arbetsförmedlingen to achieve a better structure. It will support a new director-general and a new board.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.