Response to interpellation 2024/25:554 on measures against increasing unemployment in Jönköping County
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns measures against increasing unemployment in Jönköping County. L proposes that the government strengthens household purchasing power, increases growth, and restores the work principle through reforms 1. L proposes direct economic stimuli, increased adult education, more resources for Arbetsförmedlingen, summer jobs for young people, as well as an increased rotavdrag to support the construction industry 1. L argues that education is the most important measure to establish oneself on the labor market 1 and that many unemployed people lack the right skills 2. S argues that the government's education initiatives are insufficient due to poor planning and inconsistency. S believes that the government is shrinking labor market measures and educational places. S criticizes that the support for the unemployed has been halved and that tax cuts are given to the richest. S wants investments in jobs, exports, and housing instead of braking climate initiatives 3. S requests a concrete plan to create jobs and strengthen the industry's competitiveness 3. S believes that the government lacks ambition to provide Arbetsförmedlingen with sufficient resources 4.
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! Johanna Haraldsson has asked me what measures I and the government intend to take to reduce the increasing unemployment in Jönköping County. Furthermore, she has asked what initiatives I and the government are taking to support the industries in Jönköping County that have been hit hardest by the recession, particularly the construction sector and the manufacturing industry. Finally, she has asked me if I and the government intend to take measures to ensure that Arbetsförmedlingen has sufficient resources and conditions to effectively help the unemployed find jobs.
The government wants to support the economy's recovery and prioritizes reforms within three areas in particular: It is about continuing to strengthen households' purchasing power, reforms for increased growth, and re-establishing the work principle so that more people get into work.
The Government has, in connection with the autumn budget for 2025, proposed direct economic stimuli of 5.8 billion kronor.
The Government proposes, among other things, a total of over 700 million kronor for regional vocational adult education, yrkesvux, and shorter courses within the university college during the current year, i.e., 2025. The single most important measure for establishing oneself on the labor market in the long term is education.
The government also proposes an additional 60 million kronor to Arbetsförmedlingen to manage the increased unemployment. Furthermore, the government is investing 250 million kronor in summer jobs and jobs for young people, of which 4.7 million goes to municipalities in Jönköpings län.
The largest part of the package in the autumn budget means that the subsidy rate for the rotavdrag is temporarily increased from 30 to 50 percent. The reinforcement is made to temporarily support the construction industry in the current economic situation. The reinforcement can also contribute to supporting the economy generally.
Johanna Haraldsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Sweden is in a serious recession. Half a million people in Sweden are without work, and unemployment is approaching 9 percent. Among young people, the situation is even worse. Almost every fourth young person is without a job. It is clearly noticeable also in my home county, Jönköpings län, where unemployment is increasing, companies are laying off workers, and people are worried about the future.
The construction sector and the manufacturing industry are particularly affected. These are two industries that form the backbone of the county's labor market. The timber house industry has been forced to scale back significantly, and layoffs and closures have followed one another. Several municipalities in the county have rising unemployment, just as it appears across the country.
We are all in agreement that, just as the minister said, politics were needed to get more people into education, a powerful labor market policy and reforms for increased growth. But that is not what the government is delivering. What the minister presents in his answer is, frankly, insufficient. The measures do not meet the challenges that the Swedish labor market faces.
The government says it is investing in education, but the fact is that the government is not allocating more resources to education than we Social Democrats did in government. Three years ago, the budget was larger, but back then the Minister for Employment was not called Mats Persson or Johan Pehrson. Mats Persson says it is important that people make themselves employable, but support for the unemployed has been halved by the right-wing parties' budget policy.
The government is therefore investing half as much as we Social Democrats did on labor market policy programs and initiatives. This obviously means that fewer unemployed people will have access to important support measures, for example, education, internships, and matching.
The Minister for Employment tried in his answer to sound proactive, but he is in fact quite passive. A minimal supplement is given to Arbetsförmedlingen, but it is an agency that is already on its knees after years of cuts. Add to this an uncertain world, where companies are hesitant to invest and hire. Then the government needs to deliver long-term perspective, stability, and industrial policy that provides confidence for the future. But instead, it has been chosen to brake industrial initiatives and cut out important future investments. It harms competitiveness, and it risks deepening the problems in the labor market.
The government says it wants to safeguard the work line, but that also requires real investments in education, transition, active measures for the unemployed, and a strengthened confidence in the future for companies so that they dare to invest and hire. But we see very little of that in the government's policy.
Mats Persson presents a series of points in his interpellation answer, but when one scratches a little beneath the surface of the measures, they prove to be insufficient, temporary, and in some cases completely ineffective at addressing and reducing the high unemployment across the country. The ambition is conspicuously absent, and the talk of the work principle echoes rather hollowly.
I want to ask the Minister for Employment if he thinks that his answers regarding the rotavdrag and the insufficient investments in education and labor market policy are truly sufficient to meet the growing unemployment in Jönköping County and in the rest of the country.
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by thanking Member Johanna Haraldsson for this important debate and the Minister for the response.
To be honest, I had expected more, especially in a situation where unemployment and youth unemployment are becoming entrenched. Construction cranes stand still, and faith in the future is wavering not only in my home region of Jönköping but also in the rest of the country.
Madam Speaker! The reality that people in my home county are experiencing right now requires action, not just rhetoric. In Jönköping County, unemployment is admittedly still lower than the national average but much higher than it has been for a long time.
Young people, especially those who are far from the labor market, experience doors being closed one after another. The construction and manufacturing industries, sectors that are the backbone of our homeland, are slowing down significantly. Several companies are laying off workers. Young people who previously could get a foot in the door on the labor market through summer jobs and internships are now being told that there is no room for them.
The Minister does indeed choose to speak about the investment in summer jobs for young people in his spring budget amendment. A staggering 4.7 million kronor are to be allocated to the municipalities in Jönköping County, but that does not go very far. We Social Democrats actually manage to double that investment in our proposal for the spring budget amendment. And if one were to calculate these millions in terms of youth, a decision here in this chamber to choose the Social Democrats' investment instead of the government's would mean that 400–500 more young people could get a summer job this summer. 400–500 young people in Jönköping County is, after all, quite a lot.
The chance to get a first row on one's CV, the possibility of having a brighter summer, and the possibility of having a brighter future could be offered to more. The investments that Mats Persson has spoken about here earlier are not sufficient.
Furthermore, a profound industrial crisis is ongoing in southern Sweden, and there is concern due to the customs chaos that currently prevails following Trump's perhaps somewhat naive attitude towards world politics. Therefore, the increased subsidy level in the deduction will not solve those problems. It is rather symbolic politics than structural, active labor market policy.
Madam Speaker! What is needed in Jönköping County and in the whole country is a coherent policy for the youth's future. We need an active labor market policy that meets young people where they are. We need an active upper secondary education that is adapted to the labor market's needs and where actually all actors, including the independent schools, are included in the dimensioning that is to become a reality from and including the autumn term. We also need long-term investments in climate transition and innovation. It became very clear in the previous debate here in the chamber.
Short-term tax subsidies are not needed, but rather social counter-requirements. It is about faith in the future. Unemployment risks leading to people's self-esteem becoming very low. It is about the faith in the future of young people in Vetlanda, Gislaved, Nässjö, Värnamo, Jönköping and all other municipalities in Jönköping County. That requires political leadership, not passivity disguised as restraint.
Therefore, my question to the minister is: Does the Minister for Employment mean that his and the government's measures will truly meet the needs of young people so that they can become employable? The goal must still be to reduce the growing unemployment in Jönköping County and in the rest of the country.
Markus Kauppinen (S)
Madam Speaker! We cannot brake our way out of a crisis. We must invest our way out of it. Klimatklivet and Industriklivet have been forced to a halt. Companies that want to invest in the climate transition now stand without support. The Government calls it an investment to add money that they themselves have removed. That is not leadership. It is inconsistency. And in the climate work, we cannot afford to lose a single year.
At the same time, we see, not least in my constituency Gnosjöregionen in Jönköpings län, which is one of the most industrially dense regions in Sweden, how export-driven companies are struggling with increased trade barriers and an increasingly tougher international situation. Yet, investments in export support are missing. It is worrying, to say the least. Companies invest where there are stable conditions, long-term support, and a clear political direction. When the state wavers, the companies hesitate. That is exactly what we see now, and it is costing us jobs.
We Social Democrats want to cooperate with the business sector, not delegate all responsibility to them. Business policy must take clearer responsibility to strengthen Swedish competitiveness. We want to see long-term and predictable support for the export companies.
The Social Democrats want to invest in the production of new housing, not just in the house renovation deduction. That does not benefit the timber house industry in regions such as Jönköping County.
We also want a fair distribution policy. The government has prioritized high-income earners, who have received up to 3,000 kronor a month. Low-income earners have received a few hundred kronor, if at all. We believe that is the wrong path. It leads to increased savings, not increased consumption. If you want to jump-start the economy, you must provide support to those who actually need it and who will use it. Our investments must lead to concrete results and long-term, sustainable growth – socially and economically.
Madam Speaker! Sweden needs to make investments in the climate transition, in exports, in housing, and in people's security. When will the government present a plan that creates jobs, strengthens growth, and gives companies and households the tools they need in the Gnosjö region and across the entire country?
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, the interpellator and the members, for your commitment to Sweden and for work in Sweden!
Sweden is a small, export-dependent country that is dependent on what happens in our global environment. I myself grew up not in Jönköpings län but 15 miles south along the E4 in Kronobergs län in a small village called Markaryd. It is very similar to many municipalities in Jönköpings län, where several of the interpellants have their roots.
In those types of places, there is a pride in having world-leading companies, industrial companies, that sell on several or many continents. These are global companies that have their headquarters, their roots, and their pride in Sweden or in Småland, but they have their main market in Europe, the USA, or Asia. It is clear that those types of companies noticeably notice the anxiety in the world around them and the tariff chaos that prevails around the world right now.
It is a strength that we in the Riksdag can have a consensus that the enemy here is actually not different parties in the Riksdag and that we shall do the best we can so that a small, export-dependent country on the fringes of northern Europe can, with pride, sell or hawk, as one might say in 2025, things on a world market. It is a strength that we can unite and see how we can meet the external threat in the best way possible.
Madam Speaker! An important part of where we find ourselves right now is that despite a recession, we have a situation where there are still many employers, both public and private, who have very difficulty finding competent labor. It is about skilled people, people who arrive on time and who can perform their work tasks and be part of the social interaction during a coffee break. Many of those who are unemployed do not have the right competence or have too little competence to be able to take the vacant jobs that exist, not least at home in Markaryd, in Skillingaryd, in Värnamo, or wherever it may be thought to be – often quite close to the E4.
That is why the government is making incredibly large investments in education, actually along the entire line. It is education in upper secondary school, with an increased focus on vocational training. But it is perhaps above all the focus on that someone in the middle of life, or as a relatively young and unemployed person, should be able to take a vocational training, often at a workplace, which leads to a profession where a job awaits at the other end. With that vocational knowledge and work experience, one should be able to take one of the hundreds of thousands of vacant jobs that exist in Sweden and which many of the small businesses or the large companies in Jönköping County are searching for with a lantern and a light.
That is why it is very important that the investments we are making now are combined with reforms based on a traditional Swedish motto: Do your duty. Claim your right. One has rights. One also has obligations. One has an obligation to seek work. One has an obligation to attend these training programs and do one's utmost to get a job.
Madam Speaker! In this regard, the government also ensures that the construction industry is stimulated, as it is brutally affected by the global situation and the high interest rates we have had previously, by us now ensuring that the Swedish people can use the rotavdrag to a much greater extent than before. This will have a very tangible effect both for jobs and for the Swedish construction industry.
Johanna Haraldsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank Mats Persson for his speech and his answer.
We completely agree that we need to become much better at matching and at increasing people's competence, so that they can take the jobs that exist. But the educational initiatives are insufficient. The poor foresight and inconsistency that the government has regarding adult education places means that the education places do not materialize. First they cut back, then they add a little. Then they cut back again, and then they add a little again.
The Minister returns to the point that investments are being made in education. But that is simply not true. The figures contradict the Minister. Despite talk of investments, the government has still not reached the level of the Social Democratic government. When listening to the Minister's speech, one can be misled and believe that the government may have swapped and moved money from certain measures to others, perhaps from shrinking labor market initiatives to educational places. But that is not the case; one is shrinking both labor market initiatives and educational places.
According to the budget tables, more cuts are planned. Fewer people participate in education, and fewer receive support from Arbetsförmedlingen, despite high unemployment. Now, Statens servicecenter is also being closed in several places around the country, including in Tranås in Jönköpings län. There, people in need of a personal meeting have been able to receive support. They are now left without support and risk ending up even further away from the labor market.
Mats Persson speaks about the work line. We now see the result of that work line. It was probably not what the minister wanted. The result of the labor market policy and education policy that is being pursued is increased unemployment, halved support for the unemployed, tax cuts for the richest instead of increased purchasing power for families with children, as well as missing education places and internship places.
Just as the minister says, the industry is struggling with a very great uncertainty. The widespread concern for trade barriers, tariffs, and a weak global economy causes companies to hesitate. Investments are postponed. New hires are postponed despite having a need. In that case, a clear leadership from the government is needed, a leadership that inspires confidence in the future and gives companies support to transition and find new markets to secure their competitiveness.
I wonder what the government's plan is to meet the uncertainty that is now hindering investments and new recruitment in the industry. How will the government create conditions for new business, strengthened competitiveness and sustainable development in Swedish industry? And perhaps most importantly: When will that plan arrive?
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
I want to return to summer jobs. It is incredibly important with jobs for young people. Given that it is currently very many who are getting a no, we need to allocate resources so that young people can get a foot in the door on the labor market. When I have received, above all, high school classes here in the Riksdag during the spring, it has been clear that this issue has become much more common. Previously, it has mostly been a question of CSN, student grants and such things, but during the spring it has been much more about where one should work and where the jobs are. Whatever we seek, we get the answer: No thanks! It has become increasingly common that I have heard this. Even from acquaintances, party friends and voters I meet, I have more and more often heard: Where are the high school students supposed to work? They aren't working anywhere. The companies are not accepting them.
This makes the investments in summer jobs even more important. It would have been desirable if the government had made an even clearer investment. There was actually an opportunity to prioritize differently. It requires a great deal of collective competence and a unified policy to do this.
In Jönköpings län, we would also need large investments in, for example, infrastructure in addition to housing investments. Those who today cannot get summer jobs could in the future perhaps work on building, for example, a branch line. Had it been done, I would not have had to run from here immediately after my speech to catch a train. The Minister can ensure that work continues for infrastructure investments on both housing and railways, so that there are more train departures for everyone in this country. It also creates confidence in the future that makes it possible to live and work in the whole country. Jönköpings län would in this way get an expanded labor market region. One could perhaps commute from Värnamo down to Lund or up to Linköping in under an hour.
My question continues: How does the Minister ensure that young people get a foot in the door on the labor market?
Markus Kauppinen (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answers he has given so far.
The Minister speaks about establishing the work line. That sounds good, but the reality looks different. Inflation is falling across Europe, not thanks to the government but due to international factors. But unlike other countries, we in Sweden have growing unemployment, falling construction rates, and companies being forced to brake their climate investments. It is the result of a passive policy, not of an active work line.
In a recession, the state must step forward and not back away. When households and companies hold back, the policy must press the gas. To brake climate investments, housing construction, and export support in this situation is not cautious. It is dangerous. We need a policy that does not just respond to the economic cycle but shows the way out of it.
It is actually we who want to invest in jobs, exports, and housing. It is we who want to give low- and middle-income earners better conditions to manage everyday life. That is what we want to do instead of giving thousands of kronor to those who already have the most. A real work line is not about slogans. It is about people having a job to go to. Right now, the investments required for that to become a reality are missing.
I ask again, Madam Speaker: When will the government deliver a concrete plan that creates real jobs and not just empty words?
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! This will be my final contribution to the debate. I do not intend to use my closing statement.
I would like to thank the Social Democrats for the initiative for this debate. I welcome the Social Democrats' commitment and perceive that there is a consensus that we need to invest more in the economic cycle that we see globally and do our utmost to secure Swedish jobs and ensure that, not least the export industry and our dear Småland, where I myself have roots, will do as well as possible.
We are making very large investments in education. We have never had as many places at the university college as we have right now. We are making large investments in infrastructure. I believe that the investments we are making in the deduction for repairs will be very important for the construction industry. I look forward to continuing a good dialogue with the opposition on these types of issues. I welcome the commitment that the Social Democrats are showing. Thank you very much!
Johanna Haraldsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Growth is low. We have more bankruptcies now than during the pandemic. Unemployment is at a record high. It is becoming more expensive to live, and people are becoming poorer.
It is the government that is responsible for managing this reality. But I mean that it is not taking that responsibility. The government has a non-existent policy for growth. It has no reforms for more jobs and no plan for increased competitiveness in a turbulent time. It does not deliver the solutions that it says will reduce unemployment. It has no ambitions to give Arbetsförmedlingen sufficient resources to support the unemployed. It has no commitment to supporting the households and companies that are hit hardest by the recession.
It is not just me and we Social Democrats who are saying this. Industry organizations, the Fiscal Policy Council, Svenskt Näringsliv, the unions – everyone agrees that the government is not delivering the policy needed for more jobs and growth in Jönköping County and in the whole country.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.