Response to interpellation 2024/25:167 on private mediation services
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns private mediation services and resources for Arbetsförmedlingen. L argues that the government wants an efficient labor market policy where matching services are cost-effective. L notes that the evaluation of Rusta and matcha did not yield lasting effects and resulted in higher costs. L argues that the government has already reduced funds for private actors 1. L believes that Arbetsförmedlingen has an important control function 1 2 and invests money there to support individuals far from the labor market 2. L argues that vocational trainings are important 2 and that people have a great personal responsibility 3. V argues that the government continues to invest in more expensive but not better private services 4. V believes that resources should instead be given to Arbetsförmedlingen 4. V argues that there is a systemic error where the policy is ideology-driven 4. V argues that the Liberalerna contributed to cuts in Arbetsförmedlingen and that the government lacks a genuine ambition to provide equivalent support to persons with disabilities. V wants to pause the experiment with private labor mediation and redirect resources to improve Arbetsförmedlingen's service 5. V wants to invest in digital platforms and hire more experienced labor brokers 5. V desires an active state labor mediation where everyone is given the right conditions to obtain a job 5.
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 Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Ciccie Weidby has asked me what conclusions I and the government draw from IFAU's report regarding where public resources for placement activities provide the best benefit. Furthermore, she has asked me whether, in light of the report, I consider it reasonable to continue allocating approximately 2 billion kronor per year for private matching services even though Arbetsförmedlingen's own activities demonstrably yield equally good results but at a lower cost.
Finally, she has asked me if I and the government, based on the results from the report, intend to take the initiative to phase out the billion-dollar subsidies to private placement companies in favor of increased support for Arbetsförmedlingens own placement activities so that the agency receives the resources required to ensure an equivalent support for the unemployed throughout the country.
The government's ambition is that the labor market policy should become more effective. Arbetsförmedlingen needs to continue to streamline its operations so that more people can get into work. This naturally also applies to the matching services that Arbetsförmedlingen procures from suppliers. The matching services need to be cost-effective and contribute to job seekers getting into work or education.
It is important to have a solid knowledge base regarding the effects of different interventions. I welcome the evaluation of Rusta och matcha that has been conducted by IFAU and Arbetsförmedlingen. It provides an important basis for both Arbetsförmedlingen and the government in the continued work to develop and improve labor market policy.
The evaluation shows that "Rusta och matcha" did not provide any lasting effects on income or employment in relation to the support that Arbetsförmedlingen provides, but that "Rusta och matcha" entailed higher costs. It is not a satisfactory result. The evaluation indicates a clear need to increase the cost-effectiveness of the matching services.
The government has previously taken measures to improve the services based on the lessons learned regarding how the system functions. Arbetsförmedlingen has, under the government's direction, designed and introduced a further developed matching service during 2023. The further developed service Rusta och matcha 2 involves, among other things, more support for those who are far from the labor market and incentives for more lasting results. These changes have not yet been evaluated.
The government is also taking other measures so that job seekers receive support based on their needs. There is a significant group of registered unemployed who are far from the labor market and who have a great need for support. In the budget bill for 2025, the government therefore proposes that funds should be allocated to Arbetsförmedlingen so that the agency can to a greater extent provide reinforced support with its own staff to job seekers with great support needs, as a complement to matching services. At the same time, the funds for the matching services are reduced. It is important to continuously evaluate how the public support in the matching of the unemployed can be carried out in the best way.
It is Arbetsförmedlingen that is responsible for the closer design and procurement of the matching services. Arbetsförmedlingen has communicated that the agency plans to take measures to make the service more efficient. This includes, among other things, that suppliers shall be compensated to a greater extent for getting job seekers into work or education and that low-performing suppliers will be shut out to a greater extent.
There needs to be a continuous development and improvement of the matching services. If there is a need, the government will return with measures so that the matching services become cost-effective and lead to better labor market effects for the participants. The government also continues the work to streamline the labor market policy and so that job seekers receive support and interventions based on their different circumstances and needs.
Ciczie Weidby (V)
Madam Speaker! I thank Mats Persson for the answer, which with sharp clarity testifies that the government will continue to invest in the more expensive, but not better, private matching services. He refers to continued support for the updated version of Rusta and matcha, where the government hopes that increased incentives, i.e., more money, will lead to a better and more justifiable result for the private matching services.
It strikes me now that this reminds me very much of the madness of doing the same thing several times and still expecting a different result.
The reasonable conclusion would have been that the government, instead of sending our tax money to the profit-driven matching companies, gave the resources to Arbetsförmedlingen, where the money works much better. It is worth noting that the report is in line with what previous research has shown, namely that the private providers do not outperform the public ones in getting job seekers into work.
Madam Speaker! Mats Persson acknowledges some of the reality when, in his answer, he says that there is a significant group of registered unemployed people who are far from the labor market and who have a great need of support.
In his response, he points out that the authority should receive a bit more money in order to be able to provide reinforced support to a greater extent with its own staff. What we are talking about is, therefore, 79 million kronor in increased support. That may sound like a lot, but it should be weighed against the 2 billion that Mats Persson and his government intend to continue to scatter over the private matching services.
I mean that this, Madam Speaker, is an expression of the major systemic failure that now completely characterizes Swedish labor market policy. It is entirely ideology-driven instead of being guided by a genuine ambition to get people into work.
If we, for example, were to look back, we would see that we in Sweden have actually been a very good country - a pioneering country - when it comes to our labor market policy. We have built it on research and scientifically tested methods to truly ensure that people get into jobs. It has been a labor market policy that not only has the ambition but truly wants people to get the help and the support they need to enter the labor market.
I must therefore still ask the question once more: Is it reasonable and smart to continue putting so incredibly much more money into the private matching services even though we have read in the report that the private services are not better? Arbetsförmedlingen is actually better.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Ciczie Weidby, for your commitment to this issue!
I want to start by saying that I agree with a great deal of what the member says regarding the importance of labor market policy being characterized by and conducted based on what works in reality - what is, so to speak, proven experience. It is also against that background that the government has welcomed the review of the private matching actors that the Institute for Labor Market and Education Policy Evaluation has conducted.
I also share the view that this is a reform that has been implemented on ideological grounds. I share that view, and it is no secret that it was neither the Liberals or the Left Party that were driving behind it. It was instead another party – namely the Centre Party, which is not represented here in the chamber today – that was pushing for that reform.
I share the view that it is now showing that ideologically driven projects within labor market policy are not reasonable - regardless of which direction the ideology goes, so to speak. It is also no new information for the member; the undersigned has also said so in the media. It is therefore completely obvious.
It is also important to say, and for all of us to note, that there is a very large potential for improvement even in the Swedish Public Employment Service's work to get more people into work. The private matching actors are just as good or just as bad as the Swedish Public Employment Service at getting people into work, but they are more expensive. This testifies to the fact that there is a large potential for improvement in the work of getting more people into lasting employment, regardless of whether we use private actors or public actors.
The government has, for a number of years now, even before this report was presented, taken measures. We have reduced the amount of money that has been invested in the private mediation actors, so the levels are lower now than they were when Vänsterpartiet supported the Socialdemokraternas budget 2022. The expenditure levels for private matching actors are therefore lower today than they were when Ciczie Weidby's party voted for the Socialdemokraternas budget 2022. This is because we suspected, and now also have in black and white, that this is an activity that needs to be improved and which does not fully use the taxpayers' money sufficiently effectively.
It is also important to note that Arbetsförmedlingen will now take a number of measures to improve quality and to ensure that low-performing actors in the system are shut down. At least, that is what Arbetsförmedlingen has communicated and signaled. A number of activities and measures are now taking place to make the labor market policy function better. What we can state is that both the private actors and Arbetsförmedlingen need to become better at matching people to vacant jobs.
Ciczie Weidby (V)
Madam Speaker! I have so many questions and far too little time.
I think that the ideological shift in labor market policy and the first slaughter of Arbetsförmedlingen already took place during the Alliance government's first term, and as I remember it, the Liberals were part of the Alliance. Mats Persson is obviously right that the complete and total collapse of this occurred with the January Agreement, but the Liberals were at least at the beginning also part of that. Mats Persson therefore cannot completely absolve himself from the complete slaughter of Arbetsförmedlingen.
Somewhere one still has to reflect. I really like that we are talking about ideology, because that is precisely why we are here. That is why there are several parties. My and the Left Party's ideology is that we believe in making decisions in this chamber that allow all authorities to function as well as possible so that all people in this country can receive exactly the support and opportunities they can get. It is about equality.
That is not how it looks, however, when you throw money at the private actors instead of investing in Arbetsförmedlingen. You cannot just complain that Arbetsförmedlingen is not doing what it should or should do more of. What we are now seeing have happened at Arbetsförmedlingen is that very many of the incredibly skilled mediators have moved - obviously, because it is clear that they do so if they do not feel that they get to do what they are best at. There are simply no resources, and instead they are just supposed to hunt and be a control function.
Many of the employment service officers I meet really enjoy their jobs. We know that those who truly need support are those who are far from the labor market. Very many enter a new job quite soon; one might only need one or two meetings with someone to consider that one, for example, needs a certain education to move forward. But I experience that the government does not have a genuine ambition when it concerns, for example, all those people who have different functional impairments and who never really get into the labor market. I experience that this government neither wants to ensure that there is an equal support for them across the entire country.
It is also the case that a joke with that there should be a good, clear and equal labor exchange throughout the country is that with a little state control one can also much more clearly see the differences in what needs exist in different parts of the country. The needs are not the same throughout the country.
Actually, I wonder how it is that the right, and very often the Liberals, actually think so poorly of – perhaps even hate – Arbetsförmedlingen so much. Why is there always an aversion towards state agencies and the idea that they should be able to do a good job? Why is it always so self-evident that one should scatter a lot of millions on private companies?
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I thank the member for the question.
I believe that the undersigned and the member have somewhat different views on how the labor market policy should be conducted. I will not describe the Left Party's policy - that is for the Left Party to do themselves - but rather our own policy.
Our starting point is that the welfare state and the state authorities must function. It is important for people to feel trust in the state. It is also important that people feel trust in the authorities. Arbetsförmedlingen is an authority that, just like all other authorities, can become better, and it is actively working to become better and gain increased trust in society.
In order for Arbetsförmedlingen to be able to achieve this and to be able to be a guarantor for job seekers, it needs to be able to set requirements on people. I believe that is important, because it is part of our social contract that the person who is unemployed shall do their utmost to get a job. One must apply for the jobs that exist and attend the training that exists. There, Arbetsförmedlingen has an important control function in the work of ensuring that the welfare state functions and that trust in the system exists.
Arbetsförmedlingen also has an important role in supporting people to take the jobs and educations that are offered, and that is why the government is injecting money to be able to support to a greater extent those individuals who are furthest from the labor market and who need society's support the most. This applies not least to people with disabilities but also to people with very weak educational backgrounds, poor Swedish, etcetera. There, we are injecting money so that Arbetsförmedlingen can take more measures.
At the same time, the government is clear that Arbetsförmedlingen is one of several actors that shall ensure the labor market functions better. I would like to say that vocational training in a broad sense is incredibly important to reduce the gap between, on one hand, the competence that companies and employers demand and, on the other hand, the workers' lack of corresponding competence. There is a gap between what people can do and the competencies that are demanded. It is therefore that next year the government will ensure that over 120,000 Swedes have the opportunity to attend a vocational training in some form. We believe very much in learning on the job. We believe in learning at a workplace where there is a clear connection to a job that awaits at the other end.
Madam Speaker! The private matching actors have a role to fill in this system. We have many who contribute - and try to contribute - to people getting a job. At the same time, the costs, as the report shows, are too high in relation to the benefit that is obtained. Therefore, the reform has been refined and redone. The new reform has not yet been evaluated, but we will see a number of interventions from the Arbetsförmedlingen side to make the system function better. It should be noted that the levels for the private actors are lower today than they were in the budget that Vänsterpartiet voted for in 2022.
Ciczie Weidby (V)
Madam Speaker! Mats Persson and I have read the same investigation, An impact assessment of the Public Employment Service with independent providers. It is very clear that it becomes more expensive and less efficient when private actors enter than when the Public Employment Service does it itself.
I spoke with some trade union-organized employment agencies. They said the following:
We believe it is possible to reform the labor market policy and redirect the resources. Pause the experiment with private employment agencies! Redirect the resources to significantly improve Arbetsförmedlingen's service to employers and job seekers! Allocate resources to develop modern digital platforms and to invest in a broad recruitment and training effort! Arbetsförmedlingen needs to hire and retain more experienced employment officers. Employees need in-depth knowledge in areas such as disability issues and corporate economics. This is a prerequisite to better be able to support employers who hire personnel far from the labor market.
These are very wise things. I really urge Mats Persson and the government to visit and speak with many employment service providers. They want nothing else than to ensure that all people have a job to go to.
I want to conclude by saying that I truly wish that we in this country could have an active state employment agency and a labor market policy that genuinely aims for all people to be able to go to a job and that makes it so that all people have the right to go to a job and support themselves. I do not believe that people are just lazy all the time and do not want to work, but everyone must be given the right conditions to be able to take a job and become independent individuals.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I thank Ciczie Weidby for an excellent interpellation debate and for her commitment to these issues. I think this debate has been respectful – even though the member and I do not think exactly alike about everything, the debate has been conducted in a sensible and reasonable tone and in a constructive spirit.
It is no secret that the Liberals and the Left Party stand far apart ideologically on many issues. I also dare to assert that there is a difference in worldview that has become clear in this debate. We Liberals believe that people have a great personal responsibility to seek work and take the education that is offered.
Sweden is a fantastic country. One gets very many opportunities. One can get educated not just once or twice, but one gets three, four, five, six or seven chances to get educated and change careers in the middle of life. One is offered many opportunities, and one has an own responsibility to take these opportunities. Then it is important that we have authorities that have high expectations of the job seekers. Not everyone can live on benefits, but everyone can contribute something.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.