Response to interpellation 2024/25:195 on measures against unemployment
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 L argues that the government's strategy focuses on activating the unemployed through cost-effective measures, language training, and vocational training that lead to real jobs 1 2. L wants to set high requirements for job seekers and invests in resources for Arbetsförmedlingen as well as support for women's entrepreneurship 1. L argues that the government spends more money on subsidized employment than S 3. L believes that previous extra services did not work because they did not lead to self-sufficiency 4. L advocates for a requirement-based policy to strengthen the work line 4. L argues that the policy stimulates households' purchasing power through tax cuts 4. S argues that unemployment is rising during the government's mandate 5. 5 S wants to invest in people through subsidized employment so that they become employable 5. 6 S finds it alarming that unemployment continues to rise and is not satisfied with the government's lack of action 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.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Sofia Amloh has asked me what I intend to do to ensure that labor market measures both increase in number and become more varied, in order to strengthen employment and improve equality in the labor market.
The government's strategy to get more people into employment is aimed at activating the unemployed as well as prioritizing cost-effective measures, initiatives that provide knowledge in the Swedish language and training that benefits the skills supply. High requirements shall be set on those who seek jobs combined with the unemployed being offered the right support and initiatives. Among the measures already taken, I want to highlight increased resources to Arbetsförmedlingen to improve matching on the labor market and provide better support to job seekers, as well as a mandate to Tillväxtverket to carry out initiatives that stimulate women's entrepreneurship and business ownership. Furthermore, a number of agencies have been mandated to carry out a joint agency plan so that more foreign-born women shall establish themselves on the labor market.
In this year's autumn budget, which takes effect at the turn of the year, the Government has proposed that 900 million kronor be allocated to regional vocational adult education in komvux, which means approximately 11,000 more training places, as well as that a significant resource reinforcement be made to Arbetsförmedlingen for support with own staff for job seekers with large support needs. Regarding equality in the labor market, I want to emphasize that the Government's goals for equality policy are that women and men shall have the same power to shape society and their own lives.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
I want to start where the Minister concluded. The Minister said they wanted to "underline that the government's goal for gender equality policy is that women and men shall have the same power to shape society and their own lives." I believe it would have been a greater shock to us if the government had not stood behind the Riksdag's goal for gender equality policy, which this entire chamber has voted for. All parties stand behind the national goal. It is good that we can witness that even the government underlines that it is important. But I thought perhaps we could drill a little deeper into how it could be concretely applied and become a reality. This is a task that lies on the government's table.
Madam Speaker! Earlier this week, we received forecasts regarding unemployment again. It is expected to be higher than according to previous year's forecasts. It is going in the wrong direction, and therefore the forecasts are being adjusted upwards, especially when it comes to long-term unemployment.
It is an incredibly large number of people who become stuck, who do not get into the labor market and who must remain on the outside. Many of them are women. It is women who should be allowed to be part of realizing this goal of having the power to decide over their own lives. But that is not where the efforts from this government are directed.
The question I asked the Minister for Employment regarding labor market measures concerned the fact that the measures being taken have a very skewed gender distribution. More men than women receive them. The measure that had an even distribution was the extra services, which we have shared views on. But now that the government has a different opinion than we do regarding the extra services, I imagine that they could be replaced with something else that would have an approximately equally even gender distribution. However, that has not been done. Nothing else has been introduced. One of my questions to the Minister is therefore: Is there an ambition to introduce some other labor market measure that would have a better gender distribution than those chosen so far?
Madam Speaker! When we ask questions to the Minister for Employment, he very quickly moves onto the Social Democrats' policy and explains that it would involve us only being for benefits, not placing any demands on people and being satisfied with that. I think that is a very unfortunate interpretation. That the Minister takes every opportunity to "clarify" this suggests that he has a rather weak argument for his own policy in these matters.
I do not want to call this subsidies. What the Social Democrats want to do is to invest in people. We want to ensure that people get the opportunity to enter the labor market. We want to give people the opportunity to get that extra push that one needs to become employable. That requires efforts from the state. We think it is completely reasonable. This government seems to doubt that. But I do not know why we should differ so much when it comes to that.
It almost sounds like the unemployment is falling in the government's report. I want to be very clear that it is increasing. I wonder what the Minister for Employment does during the day if unemployment is not a task for him.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Let me begin by thanking Sofia Amloh for the interpellation and for her contribution. Her commitment to these issues is pleasing to witness. I think it is important that there are members in the Riksdag who raise these issues, not least linked to equality.
It is no secret that the Liberals and the Social Democrats have different views on how the jobs policy should be designed. A core idea in the government's policy is that we believe in education that leads to real jobs that solve the skills shortages we see in the labor market and in society. It is linked to the needs of the welfare system and also linked to the green transition and the needs of industry.
The government thinks that it is more important than to conduct a labor market policy where one risks having programs or interventions that do not lead to real jobs. If one takes the example of extra services, we know that it was an intervention where very few people moved from that intervention to a job where they supported themselves and stood on their own feet. The bourgeois government's direction is that we want vocational training that leads to real jobs. That is the focus of the government's work.
It is also important to say that Sweden is a society where one gets very many opportunities. It is not that we do not have plenty of opportunities. One can get educated several times, and one receives compensation from society.
But one also has an obligation to be available to the labor market and to do one's utmost to support oneself and in that way secure a job. It is a society characterized by rights but also characterized by obligations.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! I shall make a somewhat longer statement. When we speak of wanting to invest in people because they are outside the labor market and are not employable, we want people to enter the labor market. In that case, different types of measures are needed.
They can vary to a very great extent depending on the fact that people are quite different. We need to make different interventions so that people become employable. It is a fairly fundamental principle. It is not to be a contribution party to have that line.
We Social Democrats think it would be reasonable to continue investing in people until they become employable. They might be in a subsidized employment for a period of time to then be in the labor market and be able to take a real job. During that time, they have also done a lot of good out in the labor market, performed a lot of important work tasks and learned an incredible amount.
Furthermore, the whole family has seen that this adult human being has left home and gone to work. Even though it is subsidized, it is still very important that we make that choice.
It is much better for people to go to a workplace, perform important work tasks, gain routine and experience, and be able to build a CV in order to then get a real job.
It is better than sitting at home, being outside the labor market, ending up outside of society and feeling that one is not contributing and getting even worse self-esteem. That is what it is often about when one is unemployed and does not have a job.
The most beautiful thing about a job is to be needed. You are needed by colleagues and society and feel that you are doing the right thing. That those requirements are met is one of the most important parameters in society, because then one can also demand one's rights when one does the right thing.
With that background, it is always worth it for us Social Democrats to invest in people so that they can get that opportunity. But the government chooses to become increasingly passive and watch. The demands become so high and the opportunities so few that it is very few people who get that opportunity.
I am just looking at the unemployment figures. They are not going down with this government. It is the third budget that the government is presenting, and unemployment is rising. It is a fact, and a fact that we need to take into account.
My question remains: What does the Minister for Employment do during the day? Is unemployment, and doing what is required to reduce it, one of the most important tasks? What are the measures?
In this case, it is primarily about that we see that there is a large difference between how the labor market measures reach people and the distribution between women and men. We see that it is measures that benefit men to a much higher degree than women.
I am completely convinced that in any case, the Liberals and the Social Democrats have been in complete agreement that it is very important to ensure that, in particular, women who are far from the labor market are brought into working life, precisely because of the equality goal. There we should be in complete agreement.
I hope that the Minister can have an even greater commitment to these issues going forward.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I actually do not quite understand what it is we are debating. I more or less agree with everything Sofia Amloh said.
We shall have a society where people are given opportunities: One is given the opportunity to be at a workplace, go on an internship or receive a preparatory intervention, in order to then be able to take a job.
Everything that Sofia Amloh described is what is happening in Sweden right now. People are offered very many educational opportunities in our country. If they do not have the prerequisites to take a job without a subsidy, they are offered a job with a subsidy.
It is actually the case that the government allocates more money to subsidized employment than the Social Democrats do. In addition, we provide more money to Arbetsförmedlingen so that it can have more preparatory measures.
I am a bit astonished. The member should be satisfied with what is happening because it is more or less exactly in line with exactly what Sofia Amloh described. It is something I do not understand, and I would like to understand.
When it comes to women and measures, it is incredibly complex. How is it that we have an equality issue in the labor market policy measures? How is it that we do not get more, especially foreign-born women, to undergo different types of education?
I suspect that it has to do with the regulations regarding childbirth. Therefore, we are changing it now so that it becomes more permissive and facilitates for women who are on parental leave to also be able to retain the possibility of attending a training course.
But there are obviously also structures. Not least when it concerns people who come from other countries that are culturally far from the Nordic welfare model, it is obviously the case that there are values and norms that we need to work with in order to move further forward.
Madam Speaker! It is true that unemployment is rising. I believe it is important that we are kind to one another and honest about the fact that it is a problem that we have had for a long time in Sweden.
We have a structural unemployment with groups that are very far from the labor market, often from non-European countries. The previous Social Democratic government lost the election because they failed to handle it in a wise way.
This government has decided to take the issue with the utmost seriousness. We will ensure that one cannot receive benefits year after year without providing a counter-performance. There will be very high requirements. We offer education, but we will have high expectations of all people.
That unemployment is currently rising is naturally connected to the inflation shock that started after Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the shock-increased interest rates, and the weak European economy.
Now the government is making major efforts to get the economic wheels turning faster and in that way increase employment so that unemployment falls.
But I think we should be honest and also say that things are happening that are beyond both the Social Democrats' and the government's control, which present our country with new questions that we must handle in a wise and good way. I hope to be able to do so in as broad political agreement as is possible.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister asks what the debate is about. I want to be clear in saying that today we have labor market measures that benefit men to a greater extent than women. The labor market measure that existed during the Social Democrats' time and which had an equal gender distribution has been removed. The Minister has not answered my question on whether the government intends to introduce any additional labor market measure with a more equal gender distribution than those that exist today. The one we had was removed. That is my question. It is clear, and it has still not been fully answered.
There are several reasons why unemployment is rising. But that also requires that more is done to ensure that unemployment is limited so that it does not continue to rise and perhaps can even be pushed back. There must be conditions for unemployment to decrease rapidly when the outside world looks different.
I do not see any such efforts increasing from the government's side. The government does not seem to be concerned about this. The Social Democrats think it is extremely worrying, and we are absolutely not satisfied that unemployment continues to rise. I think this government and the Minister for Employment seem quite calm and not particularly worried. They seem quite satisfied with this policy.
I want to ask the Minister: What is reasonable? What does the government expect as an outcome of this policy? By how much is unemployment expected to fall with this type of intervention during the mandate period? Does the government have any ambitions at all for it to fall, or has it been left entirely to the market?
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thanks to Sofia Amloh for the debate!
It is obvious that we differ slightly on which tools we should use. The Government did not think that the extra services that the Socialdemokraterna introduced worked because they did not lead to people being able to stand on their own feet and support themselves.
Instead, we have a requirement-based integration and labor market policy that gives people opportunities but also means that we have very high expectations of people. One will not be able to live year after year on benefits without providing a counter-performance. It is a line that has enormous popular support and which we know will lead to tangible effects both for the individual and for society and the taxpayers who finance the welfare state.
We now see how it is brightening on the horizon and how employment will increase and unemployment will decrease further ahead. The recession is more prolonged, and the government's policy is very clear. We are stimulating households. All Swedes who work will receive a tax cut which, together with interest rate cuts, means that households' purchasing power will be significantly strengthened. 120,000 Swedes will be able to attend a vocational training next year that leads to real jobs and which also solves the competence shortages in the welfare sector and in companies.
This is a policy that step by step makes Sweden stronger. It strengthens employment and pushes back unemployment. It is a policy where the work line is strong and where we have rights but also very clear obligations.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.