Response to interpellation 2024/25:508 on the Swedish Public Employment Service's reduced availability and its impact on the labor market
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 Arbetsförmedlingen is responsible for regional resource distribution and that the government has increased resources for better matching 1. L believes that society needs to move forward its positions for security and that there has been an over-reliance on digitalization. 2 L argues that money is being injected for increased support for the unemployed and that the money must be used more efficiently 2. 3 L believes that it is a failure when activities are not produced for the invested money 3. 4 S argues that Arbetsförmedlingen's accessibility is deteriorating despite high unemployment 4. 5 S argues that the agency needs more resources and staff 5. 6 S argues that cooperation is needed regarding unemployment 6. 7 S believes that the 4 billion in grant savings should be used to support those who need it most 7.
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)
Mr. Speaker! Serkan Köse has asked me how I intend to ensure that Arbetsförmedlingen has sufficient local presence and adapted support measures, especially in municipalities with high unemployment, to effectively support those who are furthest from the labor market. He has also asked me what general measures I intend to take to ensure that Arbetsförmedlingen's resources are used effectively to strengthen labor market initiatives and the matching of job seekers to vacant jobs.
There are and have long been regional differences in unemployment. Based on the goals and direction of the labor market policy, it is Arbetsförmedlingen's responsibility to distribute resources regionally and locally based on the job seekers' needs, for example the need for physical meetings, and the situation on the labor market. Arbetsförmedlingen needs to become more efficient with a clear focus on its core activities.
In the 2025 budget bill, the government makes investments that involve reduced taxes on labor and extensive investments in education. The government has also increased the resources of Arbetsförmedlingen to improve matching in the labor market and provide better support to job seekers.
The government's starting point is that everyone who can work shall do so. The unemployed shall be offered the right support and measures. At the same time, there shall also be clear activity requirements to receive compensation or benefits.
I and the government are following the issue and assume that Arbetsförmedlingen, within the framework of its mandate, will also continue to provide the unemployed with the support they need to obtain a job.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
I submitted this interpellation because we see a growing problem across the entire country with the fact that Arbetsförmedlingens presence and accessibility are deteriorating at the same time as we have the highest unemployment in over ten years, if we set aside the pandemic. In a previous debate with the Minister, I also pointed out that we have a long-term unemployment that is increasing and a youth unemployment that has increased by just over 25 percent, which has precisely been debated here in the chamber. One in four young people in our country is unemployed today.
All this means that we must have a functioning agency. The state agency, Arbetsförmedlingen, must function so that we can manage the challenges that exist in the Swedish labor market today.
We also see an unemployment that divides our country. In northern Sweden, we have low unemployment, but in southern Sweden, we have high unemployment. This requires a physical presence of Arbetsförmedlingen.
In Arbetsförmedlingen's budget basis to the government, it is warned that accessibility will deteriorate and that the staff shortage within the agency is acute; 700 people have been laid off. Various competencies were needed at Arbetsförmedlingen, which are no longer there. It is not managing its mission in light of the increased influx.
At the same time as the regional differences have increased, we can observe that the support for people who become unemployed is not sufficient for them to manage the task. In addition to that, we can observe that the government plans to close a number of service offices in 13 municipalities. This hits the groups that need both the state presence and the support that they can expect to receive. It is people with disabilities, the elderly, and newcomers who have difficulty navigating digitally.
Not everyone will be able to manage the digital system referred to. That service offices are being closed and that Arbetsförmedlingen's physical presence is being diminished means that the state's presence is being dismantled for those who need the state the most.
Mr. Speaker! This is not just about premises. It is about people. Young people without education, older workers, the long-term unemployed, and people in vulnerable areas are now forced to manage on their own or are referred to a digital platform to be able to resolve this. Therefore, I have submitted this interpellation and expected the government and the minister to come forward with some concrete proposals on how to handle it. I do not quite feel that the response addresses this in the way I had expected.
Arbetsförmedlingen needs to have a physical presence where the need is greatest. More resources are needed for labor market training, for matching, and for programs and interventions. And national competence is needed so that we can manage the matching issues on the Swedish labor market.
We must have an agency that has the capacity to meet, support, and guide people and that does not only measure and control. The Government has announced that Arbetsförmedlingen will receive 60 million kronor more, but it is very much about controlling. It is good that one controls people. But there must also be conditions for support for those who need it in order to be able to become employable and be able to take the jobs that exist on the labor market.
My question remains: How does the government intend to manage Arbetsförmedlingens accessibility and local presence in order to be able to meet the needs that exist?
Jonathan Svensson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to thank my colleague Serkan Köse, who has taken the initiative for this important debate.
It is no secret that Arbetsförmedlingen has undergone major changes in recent years that have affected the local presence, unfortunately in the wrong direction. Fewer offices and fewer employment officers have led to more people in our country having significantly longer distances to the agency's service.
In the first instance, job seekers are referred to Arbetsförmedlingen's digital platforms, which in many respects and for many people function in a satisfactory way, even though there are obviously shortcomings. Even though people in our country generally have good digital skills, I argue that there are still large groups who are in need of society's support to be able to handle various digital tools. It often concerns precisely those groups who stand a bit further away from the labor market. For example, lack of language skills, various functional impairments, or advanced age can affect their opportunity to take part in Arbetsförmedlingen's offerings.
Many in those groups have, as mentioned, difficulty using the digital tools that Arbetsförmedlingen offers today. In those cases, there is a need to be able to speak with an actual human being, often preferably physically and on-site.
When physical presence is insufficient in many places, one might think that it would work reasonably well to get in contact with Arbetsförmedlingen elsewhere. But a review from JO in the autumn unfortunately showed the opposite. It showed that 55 percent of all who called the authority got in contact with a caseworker, and for those who got in contact with a caseworker, the waiting time in the telephone queue was approximately 30 minutes. At the same time, Arbetsförmedlingen has a website where one can make digital contact with a caseworker. There, as few as one in ten attempts led to contact with a caseworker via a chat.
Mr. Speaker! I think the service provided to people who, for various reasons, want to try to get in contact with the authority, either physically or via telephone or the web, is simply far too poor.
At the same time as it is difficult to get in contact with Arbetsförmedlingen, one of the other lifelines people have had to get in contact with the state service is also being weakened. The government announced in the budget bill in the autumn that Statens servicecenter would undergo drastic cuts, and relatively recently it was announced that approximately 30 offices around the country are to be closed.
In many parts of the country, it has relatively noticeable consequences. I look at my own constituency, which for example includes the entire province of Dalsland, and see that Dalsland today completely lacks permanent employment agencies with a fixed office location for visits. Now, the only state service office in the province is being closed, and people are referred to seek help at other places.
In Sweden, we have a long tradition of high trust in our public institutions and authorities. This is largely because they have been able to deliver relatively good services. There has been good accessibility across the entire country. But as the state has taken a step back, the local presence has deteriorated, and trust in society's institutions has been damaged.
This will obviously have consequences for people who are unemployed and who in different ways are in need of society's support when they seek a job. People who are far away from the labor market and in a vulnerable situation will find it more difficult to access state services and to receive help with their job search.
I therefore want to take the opportunity to ask the Minister for Employment how he will ensure that unemployed people with different forms of support needs will get access to the support they need when Arbetsförmedlingen is difficult to reach physically, via telephone and via the web and when the state service is constantly being weakened.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the debaters for the questions and the input. It is important that one as a job seeker in a situation where one is unemployed can feel security and feel that society does not leave one behind but is there if one has a need for it. Many unemployed people do not need help, but those who do should be able to get help through society's various interventions. That is also why it is important that we have a presence, so that people can feel that security.
When it comes to the authorities' ability to on the one hand recruit competent labor and on the other hand – I am deliberately expressing myself a bit loosely now, so you will have to take me kindly – find them "in every bush," I, as a government minister, do not have knowledge of exactly where the intersection lies. I assume that our authorities handle that trade-off and conflict of objectives in the best possible way.
With that said, I share the interpellant's and the other debater's view that we have generally in society had an over-reliance on digitalization. Not all people have the prerequisites to fully use only digital tools to communicate with authorities. As I understand it, a discussion is ongoing within several agencies, including Arbetsförmedlingen, where at least the question is touched upon: Has digitalization gone too far?
One sign of this is the report that Jonathan Svensson also refers to regarding very deficient telephone availability. I believe I read in some newspaper about some individual who deliberately refrained from answering the phone and has now lost their job.
We therefore have a need for society to move forward its positions. We need, in different ways, to ensure that people can feel security when they are unemployed and can also feel a greater presence. It can be digital, physical, or via telephone – exactly what that intersection looks like can always be discussed.
The overall ambition from our side is, of course, that we should ensure that people receive a better reception and encounter a more engaged society, so that they are not left to the mercy of the waves in their unemployment but instead encounter great opportunities for education and to find work. There should be high expectations for individuals to do their utmost. But one must also have opportunities by having a state that is there when one needs it most.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer. I believe that many of us completely share the Minister's analysis – the state and society shall be there, and there shall be a state presence so that one can feel a certain security. It is precisely for that reason that we become a little worried when office after office is closed and resources are removed from Arbetsförmedlingen and the active labor market policy.
I also share the Minister's view that it is obvious that the agency should be able to make an assessment of where one thinks one should be located because the need is greatest there. But I believe that the Minister must consider how this is to take place in practice if it is the case that one perhaps does not quite have the prerequisites. As the Minister remembers, there was in previous regulatory letters to Arbetsförmedlingen a concrete goal concerning the agency being present in the socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. It is something that I believe the Minister needs to take with him – how is one to strengthen Arbetsförmedlingen's presence in the areas where the agency is needed most?
Arbetsförmedlingen may not need to exist in every village in all of Sweden, if I am to interpret the Minister kindly. That is not exactly what we are proposing either, but here it is about where the agency should be located, where it should be, and where the need is greatest. A proposal to the Minister is to review whether the agency can be given a mandate to be in the socioeconomically disadvantaged areas – where unemployment is highest, the agency should be present.
I do not believe that removing the authority, removing the state service centers, and referring people to digital solutions is quite the solution. The Government Offices state in its evaluation that Arbetsförmedlingen's digital interface is insufficiently adapted to the groups that are furthest from the labor market, which confirms what I am saying. The authority should be there where the need is greatest. Digital solutions cannot replace physical meetings for those who need someone who listens, understands, and can show the way forward. It is a message to the Minister.
Once again: Arbetsförmedlingen refers in its budget proposal to the government that more resources are needed to fulfill its mission. The Director-General warns that they do not have enough staff to manage guiding, matching, and follow-up. This means that there will be fewer interventions, longer waiting times, and more people getting stuck in long-term unemployment.
Part of my interpellation concerned the 4 billion that the agency did not use. If one reads Arbetsförmedlingen's annual report, one can see that it was just over 4 billion that were sent back. One can then wonder how these 4 billion can be used in a different way than today, perhaps in consultation and cooperation with municipalities, now that unemployment is as it is.
I have one more point to add. In this situation, I truly believe that cooperation is needed regarding unemployment and the measures that need to be implemented. If nothing is done, I am afraid that we will see higher unemployment and a weakened authority, which will affect the groups that need Arbetsförmedlingen the most.
Could the government comment on this matter regarding the 4 billion? If the government has any thoughts on how those 4 billion could be used, I would be grateful to hear them.
Jonathan Svensson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer. The Minister mentions in his answer that state agencies shall have a presence that provides security to job seekers. I naturally share that view.
I am, of course, interpreting the Minister's words charitably – we are not going to have a public employment service office in every bush. We Social Democrats do not think that either. However, we think it is reasonable that there is state service in every county. That far we actually dare to go.
Good accessibility for our citizens to our state authorities is fundamental for maintaining trust in them but also for being able to deliver satisfactory services for our citizens. Today, Arbetsförmedlingen in many places around our country unfortunately does not have the satisfactory accessibility that we would have liked to have. It is also evident that accessibility via telephone and web is not sufficient.
This will have consequences for people who, for various reasons, are in need of extra support in their job search. As said, it could be about people with disabilities, language difficulties, or some form of digital exclusion. These are groups that would have been in need of more individually tailored support from society to receive support in their job search and in that way be able to get or keep a foothold in the labor market. The possibility of this is obviously worsened when Arbetsförmedlingen is repeatedly forced into cuts while the state service is decreasing in many places around the country.
However, I do not feel that the Minister fully answers my question on how he will ensure that people who are in need of society's collective support will receive it when there are such large deficiencies in the Arbetsförmedlingen's availability and when the Statens servicecenter is now backing away.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Mr. Speaker! In response to Jonathan Svensson's last question, I would like to say that this is the reason why we are now allocating funds to Arbetsförmedlingen for increased support for the unemployed. We are listening to the criticism that exists. It is about telephone availability, about having high requirements, and about making early interventions for the unemployed.
Mr. Speaker! Serkan Köse asks how we shall ensure that 4 billion is not paid back. It is a very relevant and reasonable question. It is very much about ensuring that we, and by that I mean we in society in a broad sense, do not let labor market training places that we have budgeted for and invested in go to waste. It is a matter of ensuring that we have systems that catch people so that they can be guided toward the labor market trainings.
It is not the first time that Arbetsförmedlingen pays back money to the state. It has happened under blue governments and under red governments. I see it as a common task for us to find systems and tools so that we can use the money in a better and more efficient way so that the unemployed receive a share of more educations.
The goal is that we can in that way ensure that more people become bus drivers, more can work in Swedish healthcare and more can work in Swedish industry.
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
It is as the Minister says. It is not the first time Arbetsförmedlingen has sent back the money. That has been done since 2006. When I have looked at the development, I have seen that every year one has been able to send back 5–10 billion. It is not optimal.
That is why I am highlighting this question. I believe that the money should be used for the purpose for which it is intended. It should be used for labor market policy programs and initiatives, for educational initiatives and for the needs that exist. On that, we are in complete agreement.
A question that needs to continue to be discussed and debated is how the savings on appropriations shall be used. This applies in particular in this situation when we have the highest unemployment in ten years.
We have half a million people who are unemployed. We have a long-term unemployment that is growing. We have a youth unemployment that is growing. In that case, it is not optimal for Arbetsförmedlingen to send back more than 4 billion.
In that labor market crisis, I, as a Social Democrat, also do not believe that the digital solutions we are talking about will be sufficient. This is about Arbetsförmedlingen being able to offer the help and the support that people need.
When I read the Swedish Public Employment Service's annual report, which I believe the Minister has also done, I see that the Swedish Public Employment Service itself is sounding the alarm about the situation. One warns of an unreasonable workload, as it is written. One also writes that the resources are insufficient and that they can no longer offer individually tailored support.
It is serious and something that I believe one needs to look at. At the same time, the authority sends the next budget proposal to the Minister and argues that more resources are needed in order to manage the challenges that exist today in the Swedish labor market.
My contribution to the Minister is to proceed from the discussion regarding the 4 billion in the appropriation savings and see how they can be used here and now so that they can be deployed to help and support those people who need support the most.
I honestly do not believe that the 60 million that the government has announced will go far. It is about having control and nothing else. Thank you for the debate!
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Thanks to Serkan Köse and the co-debater for the debate!
It is important that we can continue to discuss how we can use our tax money in better ways. In that way, we can also ensure that more unemployed people receive the measures they can benefit from.
It is a failure for the entire political and state system that we have a situation where we do not get results for the money we invest. For my part, I am happy to continue the debate and discussion on how we can better use the money so that more unemployed people can benefit from the measures.
It is important that one can meet a strong state that is there if one needs it. If one manages on one's own, one manages on one's own. But if one needs the society's interventions, one should receive them. It requires a different way of thinking and seeing how we embrace digitalization and how we view the state's presence for people.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.