Response to interpellation 2023/24:804 on labor market assessment
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M does not want to reintroduce labor market testing but wants to reform the system for labor immigration to strengthen competitiveness 1. M believes that companies are better suited than authorities to assess competence needs 1 and advocates for raised maintenance requirements to ensure good conditions 1 2. M emphasizes that they are implementing measures against labor-related crime 2 3 and wants to focus on attracting talent through qualified labor immigration and shorter processing times 4. S argues that raised wage requirements are not enough to stop wage dumping 5. S argues that the labor market parties should be included in the assessment to capture competence 5 6 and take responsibility for controls 7. S warns that domestic competence in the construction industry risks being wiped out 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! Leif Nysmed has asked me if I can consider reintroducing a labor market test where the parties in the labor market, together with the appropriate authority, assess the need for labor from third countries.
Initially, I want to emphasize that the goal of the government's policy is that Sweden shall have a purposeful labor migration that contributes to Sweden's competitiveness. An important part of the paradigm shift that the government is carrying out across the entire migration area is therefore to reform the Swedish system for labor migration.
We believe that the companies themselves are better suited than authorities to assess what needs they have for labor. We therefore chose an alternative path early on rather than proceeding with the labor market assessment model proposed by the previous government. Instead, the government is taking a number of other measures, not only to ensure the supply of skills for employers who need to hire qualified labor from a third country but also to reduce fraud and abuse. As a first step, the maintenance requirement for labor migrants has been raised from 13,000 kronor to 27,360 kronor per month. In the report New rules for labor immigration etc. (SOU 2024:15), it is also proposed to introduce an even higher wage requirement corresponding to the median wage as well as an opportunity to make exceptions for individual occupational groups. A higher wage requirement can contribute to ensuring good conditions for those who come to Sweden to work and also contribute to them having the right skills.
But the proposals also mean that the companies will continue to be free to assess what competence needs they have, within the framework that the upcoming regulation provides. The measures that the government is now implementing will therefore contribute to a well-balanced regulatory framework that focuses on attracting the competence that is hardest to find in Sweden.
In summary, I do not intend to reintroduce a system for labor market assessment.
Leif Nysmed (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister for the answer. However, I have a few questions based on it.
The Minister initially highlights Sweden's competitiveness. I question how it can benefit Sweden that our companies, while approximately 12,000 Swedish construction workers are unemployed, recruit labor from Uzbekistan, Albania, Serbia, and several other countries to the construction industry.
Swedish construction workers are internationally known for their professional skills. What competencies does the Minister see an Albanian worker having that a Swedish construction worker cannot match? How can it be that it is more important to protect free labor immigration than to combat the own, domestic unemployment? Could the Minister perhaps consider introducing a labor market test in certain industries with high unemployment, just as she reasons about exempting individual professional groups from the higher wage requirements?
Not letting the parties in the labor market be part of the assessment is a bit strange, as these have a great responsibility for how the Swedish labor market functions.
Madam Speaker! The Minister describes the increased wage requirement as a way to counteract the fraud. Unfortunately, an increased wage requirement alone will not eliminate, for example, wage dumping. Various organizations working on this, but also Swedish authorities, describe, for example, that one can receive a wage in hand and then pay back parts of it. One might work more overtime for free to compensate for the higher wage. One can pay very high sums for accommodation, many times very substandard, to compensate for the higher wage. This, therefore, will not really help.
The parties in the labor market are actually those who are responsible for wage formation in the Swedish labor market and ensure that wages are paid. In that case, I think this: Should they not be part of the review in order to be able to resolve this and gain greater influence?
We have 12,000 construction workers unemployed, about 10 percent. And that is Byggnads' figures; there are more unemployed construction workers outside the fund. The figure is therefore actually higher.
More than half of the young people in the country who completed the construction program this spring did not receive an apprenticeship. It is quite alarming for the skills supply moving forward within the construction industry in Sweden, but also for the faith in the future that these young people are to have.
When it comes to Stockholm, I have received the figure that as few as 10 percent of the students from the construction program have received employment. I have only received the figure via hearsay, so we have to take it with a grain of salt, but I still think it is quite alarming.
Can the Minister for Migration, therefore, imagine a labor market test in specific industries that have high unemployment?
Statsrådet Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! To begin with, I truly welcome this question because it contributes to clarifying our policy. I am, in fact, often criticized for wanting to introduce a labor market test when we talk about the proposal on wage floors and exceptions, and that is not what I want – not even partially.
On the other hand, we are now reforming the framework for labor migration. It is something the Social Democrats have claimed to stand for for a long time, but during their eight years in government, they did nothing.
We see a very great need to carry out these changes. What we are doing now is to shift the focus from a large proportion, specifically two-thirds, of low-skilled labor immigration to more skilled and highly skilled labor immigration. We are also taking a number of measures to address the fraud that exists on the labor market, which Leif Nysmed also addresses, which is extremely serious.
Labor immigration is important for Sweden. For the sake of balance, one should also remember that it is a small part of the total workforce. In 2023, nearly 21,000 first-time applications for work permits were granted, which corresponds to approximately 0.5 percent of the entire workforce in Sweden.
The shortage of labor in Sweden varies, and employers demand different skills in different parts of the country. In the investigation that was recently presented and which is now being prepared, it is also proposed that a shortage occupation can be linked to a certain part of the country, which creates a certain flexibility in the regulatory framework. This can contribute to people who come to Sweden to work doing so where there is a local shortage of labor.
To secure the supply of skills, it is also important that the large group that stands outside the labor market enters employment. Therefore, the government ensures that the incentives for those who do not yet support themselves are increased to take the jobs that actually exist, but within lower-paid occupations. It is therefore why we are now investigating both a benefit ceiling and a qualification for welfare.
At the same time, I want to mention everything we do to combat fraud, which I view very seriously. It is fundamentally about protecting vulnerable people but also about safeguarding the legitimacy of the migration system. We know that it occurs that people seek out Sweden for the purpose of working without having permission to work here. We also naturally know that people, just as Leif Nysmed points out, are exploited in a terrible way. Controls at workplaces and controls of an administrative nature are carried out in industries that are judged to be particularly affected by crime in the labor market, including the construction industry.
We know that labor migrants are assessed to be a risk group when it comes to labor exploitation. Counteracting labor-related crime is therefore very high on the government's agenda. Nine agencies cooperate against labor-related crime, and seven regional centers against labor-related crime were established during 2022 and 2023. During the autumn, the government intends to return with a renewed mandate for this agency cooperation to strike harder against the criminal economy, organized crime in corporate environments, and exploitation. All of this is things that truly affect serious companies and serious workers.
Furthermore, we argue that increased maintenance requirements mean that it will become more difficult to obtain work permits for certain occupations. This will naturally also affect the construction industry. Increased maintenance requirements can contribute to ensuring good working conditions for those who come here to work. We have also established a new ministerial group, led by me, which shall find new ways to stop criminal activities in the shadow society.
A lot is being done, both regarding the regulatory framework for labor immigration and regarding tackling the fraud that exists and which affects serious companies.
Leif Nysmed (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister! I think this is an important issue to debate and discuss in the serious manner that we do here.
What worries me with several is that the competence that actually exists in the country today, for example in the construction industry - I mention that one specifically because it is so heavily exposed and because I am well-versed in it - will not remain in the industry the day it turns. We see no real turnaround in the construction industry within the coming years, and the question is who will be left in the construction industry when it finally turns.
If we think about the labor migrants who have come here, primarily by legal means, what is it that says they will remain in Sweden the day we are once again to rebuild a free Ukraine? What is it that says they will stay in Sweden and want to work here?
There is a risk that we will eliminate the Swedish, domestic construction workforce and then rely on foreign labor coming here to do the job in the future when, for example, the housing construction that will be needed starts up again.
There is a risk that fewer young people will apply for the construction program. We already see that today. Going straight into unemployment does not make it particularly attractive to apply for a certain program. It is rather the opposite. I see that it will become long-term, difficult problems if we do not take care of the competence that already exists or can be acquired through the apprenticeship system that one enters when one finishes the construction program. One is not finished with their education when one finishes the construction program; a number of years at a workplace are added before one receives a professional certificate.
Problems arise when the parties in the labor market are not involved in the assessment. Who will come to Sweden and work? We see a significantly worsened work environment on the Swedish labor market and that more people are injuring themselves at workplaces – not to mention all the fatal accidents. These are signs that the labor market is not functioning as it should. In that case, it is important to have competence and to be able to verify that the competence actually exists among those one wants to bring here.
If the parties in the labor market are to be an important part of the Swedish model – which both our parties stand up for, as has been clearly shown in many debates – they must also be allowed to be a part of this issue as well. I understand that the Minister and I have slightly different ideological starting points, but I still appeal that at least in crisis industries, a labor market assessment is considered and that you actually take part of the competence that the labor market parties have – both employee organizations and employer organizations. Then we have wise authorities that can also be helpful in this.
Statsrådet Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Leif Nysmed! I think it is very important that these questions are highlighted, especially with the expertise that Leif Nysmed possesses regarding the industry.
The construction industry was granted 743 work permits last year. On 1 December 2023, the legislative changes came into force which entail a maintenance requirement of 27,360 kronor instead of 13,000 kronor. Up until 31 May this year, only 200 work permits, i.e., first-time applications, have been granted in the construction industry. This is a relatively small proportion when considering the total of around 310,000 people who work in the construction industry.
The construction industry is an example of an industry where special requirements are set in order for a work permit to be granted. In industries with such special evidence requirements, the Swedish Migration Agency actually grants only 22 percent of the applications. It is a way to handle these special industries where special supervision is needed, as Leif Nysmed requested.
We are aware that some of those working within the construction industry are posted workers from another EU country where the working conditions can sometimes be worse than they are on the Swedish labor market. The investigation that recently presented its results therefore proposes that a foreign national who is posted in Sweden by an employer established in another country should, in addition to an employment contract, also have a document with the conditions that apply for the work in Sweden, which can also contribute to better conditions for the group.
A relevant group to bring up in this context is Uzbek citizens. Last year, 775 Uzbek citizens applied for asylum in Sweden. In total, 42 of these applications were granted, which means a grant rate of 5 percent. We know that a large part of this group is in Sweden illegally and that that proportion has increased over the last 20 years.
According to SCB, more than 5,000 people born in Uzbekistan were in Sweden during 2021. However, there are figures indicating that there could be as many as 20,000. These figures illustrate what we already know, namely that this group is primarily in Sweden illegally. We also know that it occurs that they do not apply for asylum and that they legalize their stay only when they are noticed by authorities, which includes, among other things, in connection with workplace inspections.
The Uzbek group is an example that shows how serious this is. These people are extremely vulnerable, and therefore the work that the government is doing is very important. It is not least about more workplace inspections, but also about investigating possibilities to introduce stricter sanctions in different ways against those employers who in a rather brutal way exploit this workforce.
Leif Nysmed (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister is quite right that the main cause may not be how the labor market looks, but the illegal labor and the posted labor from EEA countries that turn out to come from third countries are parts that overlap. A very clear example is a company that was convicted of economic crime in the Court of Appeal. After a number of years of investigation, it could finally be stated that 19 people had worked illegally in Sweden even though the company had stated that they were cohabitants with EU citizens and thus were allowed to accompany and work throughout the EU. But upon a more thorough investigation, it turned out that the persons they had referred to were married to other persons.
The possibility of moving freely within the EU and EEA by being a cohabitant with a citizen in the EU or EEA actually makes it virtually impossible for anyone to check who someone is and whether they have the right to stay here. It took the Swedish Economic Crime Authority a number of years to come to this conclusion. It is, after all, impossible for them to be present at all thousands of workplaces. That is why I want us to have the strength to involve the labor market parties even in this work. It is an important piece of the puzzle that the labor market parties are allowed to take responsibility. We set requirements that they shall perform checks, but we do not give them the conditions to be involved in assessing whether labor is needed in Sweden from third countries.
We have free movement of labor within the EU and EEA, but sometimes I become very thoughtful about the "needs" that arise. I believe we need more cooperation regarding this and that the social partners in the labor market are important, even in this. That is my opinion.
Statsrådet Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! I also want to thank you for a good debate. I believe we are relatively in agreement that much must happen. Then we have slightly different paths to get there. But I still think it is a strength that a large part of the Riksdag stands behind changed regulations regarding labor immigration.
We need to shift the focus from having a large proportion of low-skilled labor and ensure that more of those who do not yet support themselves in Sweden actually get the opportunity to take the jobs that exist and also have the incentives to do so, as well as being educated to do so. We need to become better at attracting talent from all over the world. Therefore, the government focuses on skilled and highly skilled labor immigration and on shortening processing times, not least by introducing a 30-day guarantee for highly skilled persons who want to come here and contribute with their talents.
The government is also making a major investment in combating crime in the labor market. This is something we will need to focus a lot on moving forward. It is about ensuring that people are not exploited, but also about safeguarding the legitimacy of the regulatory framework surrounding migration.
However, I do not want to end up creating unnecessary complications for the companies. I believe they should be free, within the framework of the regulations we set up, to assess what competence they need. I do not want to give the unions a veto over hiring. Therefore, we say no to labor market screening.
I am glad that we agree that reforms are needed and that the work is now underway after a very long wait. Many thanks for a good debate!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.