Response to interpellation 2024/25:723 on disclosures following Sydsvenskan's investigation of companies
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns crime in the labor market and the abuse of subsidized employment. L considers crime in the labor market to be a threat to companies and society 1. L argues that the government is acting by providing authorities with more tools, resources, and 100 million kronor for cooperation 1, as well as by introducing requirements for nystartsjobb 1. L emphasizes that the government has taken measures through regulatory letters, a new law on duty of disclosure, and by removing secrecy barriers 2. L underlines that human trafficking and exploitation must be combated 3. S considers it outrageous that tax money is used for unscrupulous employers 4. S advocates for payments to be stopped until it can be ensured that no tax money goes to organized crime 5 and wants companies that commit crime in the labor market to be blacklisted 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.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! Adrian Magnusson has asked Minister Nina Larsson how she views what has emerged in a media review of a company. Furthermore, Adrian Magnusson asks whether the Minister and the Government intend to take any measures in light of the review. The work within the Government is distributed such that it is now I who shall answer the interpellation.
I would first like to thank Adrian Magnusson for the question. As the member points out in the question, the government takes labor market crime and the exploitation of people in the Swedish labor market seriously. The often cross-border labor market crime poses a threat to Swedish companies, employees, vulnerable workers, and society as a whole. It creates great suffering for the individual and great insecurity in the labor market. It distorts competition and constitutes a source of income for organized crime.
Employers who commit crimes or cheat should not be able to receive support from the state. The government is acting on all fronts to reach such criminal actors. The authorities have received more tools and expanded resources to be able to more effectively monitor suspected actors.
The Government has extended and strengthened the mandate on lasting agency cooperation against crime in the labor market until 2026. In the budget bill for 2025, the Government added 100 million kronor for agency cooperation against crime in the labor market.
It is important that Arbetsförmedlingen has good control of employers who receive state support for employment. Arbetsförmedlingen has, along with other actors within the welfare systems, received financial means and mandates to in various ways strengthen the work with control and to counteract errors. The Government has, among other things, in the regulatory letter for 2025 given Arbetsförmedlingen the mandate to strengthen the handling process for subsidized employment, which includes nystartsjobben.
The authorities' cooperation within agency cooperation against crime in the working life is being developed to strike harder against the criminal economy, organized crime in corporate environments, human trafficking, human smuggling, and human exploitation in work. By striking at the opportunities to enrich oneself economically through crime, society can reduce the drivers to engage in crime and counteract the fact that criminal profits build up even stronger and more well-organized criminal activities. The Government continues to work to choke the criminal economy and increase safety in society.
Adrian Magnusson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for Employment for the answer to the interpellation.
Initially, I want to state that I completely share the Minister for Employment's view of labor market crime in this country. It is almost to be regarded as a poison, and it must be fought with force. It distorts competition in the labor market, as has been said, but above all, it exploits people ruthlessly. People who only want to earn their livelihood suffer enormously in cases where labor market crime is allowed to run rampant.
In the case I raised in the interpellation, it concerns a company in Åstorp that moved from Denmark and then around various locations in Skåne. Helsingborgs Dagblad and Sydsvenskan have reported extensively about almost slave-like conditions and a widespread culture of silence. Employees are forced to work for free on weekends and twelve-hour shifts at certain times. It is testified that it is not possible to say no if one is called in on a Sunday and that the overtime compensation is not correct. It also occurs that employees are forced to pay back their wages to the company in question.
The union has previously been shut out from the company, and the company has refused to sign a collective agreement, something that finally happened after a number of industrial actions. Slowly but surely, the union has since begun to make contact with employees at the company. However, the fear of reprisals among the employees means that, unfortunately, it often occurs only after the employment has been terminated.
Madam Speaker! This is, of course, upsetting in itself. That such things should occur in the Swedish labor market in 2025 is completely unacceptable. It is more reminiscent of 19th-century film depictions of miners in Great Britain or something similar than of a workplace in Sweden in the 2020s.
But the reasons for the agitation and anger do not stop here. At the same time as this has been ongoing and the owners have taken out over 100 million kronor in profit, Arbetsförmedlingen has, through the so-called nystartsjobben, sent 10 million kronor to the company since December 2022. It is thus 10 million kronor of the taxpayers' money that has gone straight to such exploitation, outright to the exploitation of people. It is such that it makes one's skin crawl when one thinks about it.
In the Minister for Employment's response, it is stated that the government is working to stifle the criminal economy and is allocating funds to strengthen control and counteract errors such as this. It can unfortunately be stated that much more needs to be done. In this case, it is nothing new; the company in question has been under scrutiny by the media for many years. The first time it was reported in the media was over ten years ago. Despite that, 10 million of the taxpayers' money has thus gone toward promoting this type of exploitation of people.
Madam Speaker! It should not have to be up to newspapers, TV, radio or other media to ensure that such information comes to light. There should be well-established routines within Arbetsförmedlingen to ensure that support is not paid out to this type of exploitative company.
Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, this is not the first time we have seen how the startup jobs mean that tax money ends up just anywhere and in places where they absolutely should not end up. The startup jobs have also received criticism previously, not least from the National Audit Office – criticism which, with this concrete and practical example, has now proven to be far from misplaced.
What is the Minister and the government prepared to do to both put an end to such working conditions, and to ensure that state funds do not go to companies that provide such working conditions? It is quite obvious that the current regulatory framework, the current system, and the current order are not sufficient.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! The Government answers that they want to act on all fronts to reach such criminal actors. In that case, I immediately recall a report from the Gender Equality Authority from last spring. The authority's mapping shows that 185 reports of human trafficking in Sweden were made last year and that no convictions were reached. Looking back in time, we see very few convictions. They can be counted on two fingers, I believe.
This is one of the major issues when it comes to subsidized employment. The Akrim center, which works with agency cooperation, concludes in almost every case that it is a matter of human trafficking, exploitation, and the exploitation of people. But in Sweden, one is not held accountable for these actions and is not convicted. It is completely risk-free to exploit people grossly in this way. It can continue without one being punished.
Madam Speaker! Adrian Magnusson highlights an example in this interpellation debate, but there are a number of examples of different cases. Reports have been coming in repeatedly over a longer period. The latest is the National Audit Office report that we have received in the committee and which the Minister has also received. In that report, stinging criticism is directed at the subsidized employments. These tax funds finance an organized criminal activity that causes people to suffer, be exploited, and be a commodity, but the convictions are few. The Director-General of the Gender Equality Authority has himself stated that changes in the legislation are required to obtain more convictions. One of my questions to the Minister is then: Does the Minister have any ambition to do more in this area to ensure that human trafficking does not continue on the Swedish labor market?
I understand that this may not be the absolute highest priority issue among all the important societal problems that the government has to handle. That the most vulnerable people in the labor market are being exploited, that people are subjected to prostitution or human trafficking in general, that it is children who are working to pick our berries and that women live under slave-like conditions, perhaps are not the election-winning issues that one has a lot of press conferences around. But they are still issues that describe how a civilized state fares. There is a responsibility to ensure that the most vulnerable do not suffer so badly in Sweden and in the Swedish labor market.
What ambitions does the government have to do more so that we get more convictions and so that these criminal actors do not use tax funds to finance their activities? When people are trafficked in this way, accountability is needed.
Johanna Haraldsson (S)
Madam Speaker! The recurring reports that state subsidies end up with rogue companies show that the controls are not sufficient. These funds, which both the company in question and many other companies have been paid out, would never have been paid out if the controls had been sufficient.
The control systems must be sufficient at the responsible authority. It is not reasonable that agency cooperation, which the Minister brings up in his answer, should be used to rectify errors that exist within one of the agencies in the cooperation. You hear for yourselves how stupid that sounds.
If one cannot guarantee that the "nystartsjobb" (new start jobs) or other employment supports are being used as they should, shouldn't one review the regulations themselves or do as we in the Socialdemokraterna have proposed: completely stop the payments until the controls of the companies in question have been sorted out. Companies that repeatedly fail to comply should never be eligible for new support funds. We should blacklist criminal companies and exclude them from state support.
I wonder if there is anything of what my colleagues and I have now talked about that one could imagine being done from the Minister for Employment's side – something additional beyond what is currently being done. The Minister speaks of strengthened controls, but it is obvious that they are not sufficient, as it is revealed time and again that purely criminal companies actually get to receive state funds.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! I do not believe there is any doubt that this government takes crime in the working life most seriously. It constitutes a threat to Swedish companies. It constitutes a threat to employees. It constitutes a threat to vulnerable workers, who have been mentioned here. It constitutes a threat to society as a whole. It creates suffering for individuals and insecurity in the labor market. It distorts competition and contributes to the criminal economy. This we seem to be very much in agreement on, and it is very pleasing, I think.
The government's starting point is that employers who commit crimes or cheat shall not be able to receive support from the state. We are acting on all fronts, as I mentioned, to reach these criminal actors.
It is a number of authorities that need to cooperate for us to access this. They have been given more tools and increased resources to be able to more effectively monitor suspected actors. In the budget bill for 2025, which the Riksdag has decided on, we have allocated a total of 100 million kronor to the cooperating authorities. I mentioned this earlier, in connection with another debate.
Most importantly here is that the authorities have received even better opportunities to share information with one another, which will streamline the work against crime against the working life.
Here, the audit that the Swedish National Audit Office has conducted of subsidized employment was mentioned. They state that these are designed in a way that entails risks of abuse, especially regarding the nystartsjobb (start-up jobs). The Government has therefore taken several measures. Some of the measures I can mention here.
Arbetsförmedlingen has, together with other actors within the welfare system, received financial means, as I said, and a mandate to strengthen the work with control and counter errors in various ways. Arbetsförmedlingen has also received better opportunities to deny payments to unscrupulous actors. This includes, among other things, expanded opportunities to control employers before decisions on subsidized employments and a more efficient processing of personal data.
Since 1 February 2025, there is a requirement for nystartsjobb that the employer, no later than twelve months before the current employment, may not have dismissed one or more employees due to shortage of work in the operational unit where the employee is intended to be placed. The possibility of qualifying for nystartsjobb during a prison sentence was abolished, and a ban was introduced against employing relatives with nystartsjobb.
The Government has also, in the regulatory letter for 2025, tasked Arbetsförmedlingen with strengthening the processing procedure for subsidized employment, which includes the nystartsjobb.
In the autumn of 2024, the government gave an investigator a mandate to review what conditions should apply during the Arbetsförmedlingen's inspection visits. The investigator submitted their proposals to the government at the beginning of the summer. They will be further processed in the Government Offices.
With this said, I also want to say that subsidized employment is needed – for various reasons. We spoke earlier about the high unemployment and about the exclusion that has emerged in Sweden. We need subsidized employment, but they must absolutely not be able to be exploited by unscrupulous employers.
Adrian Magnusson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
No, it is quite simple to state that Arbetsförmedlingen's routines in this specific case have failed quite significantly – if there have even been any opportunities. That is also what one becomes curious about. What opportunities has Arbetsförmedlingen actually had to follow up on the company in this regard? Since it has been known for a fairly long time that there have been some irregularities at the very company that was raised in this review, one can wonder what opportunities Arbetsförmedlingen has had.
One can at least state something, and I do not know if it is good or bad. But this was reported in Sydsvenskan and in Helsingborgs Dagblad from approximately June 15 to June 20. On June 28, Sydsvenskan wrote that Arbetsförmedlingen had pulled the handbrake. It is at least some kind of light in the dark that it still went quite fast once it had been discovered and that they ended these nystartsjobb payments. But it had been going on for a very long time, and I do not think it should be the responsibility of Sydsvenskan or Helsingborgs Dagblad or any other similar institution to discover such things.
In this case, it was something that is commonly occurring within crime in the labor market. The Minister touched upon exclusion at the end of his speech. It is non-European people who are exploited very severely. It also appears in this review that it is non-European people who suffer very badly and who are exploited in different ways depending on the fact that they probably do not feel like a part of Swedish society. They feel very vulnerable.
This is also clearly a major problem. It is perhaps something that Arbetsförmedlingen needs to look particularly at – when one sees these types of trends. We shall have to see in the future.
The Minister raised a number of things that had been introduced from 1 February 2025. I really hope that those types of measures have an effect, because such cases cannot be allowed to occur. This is just one case. I am convinced that this happens in many more workplaces around Sweden.
What is incredibly upsetting and provoking in this specific case is not only that people have suffered very badly under an unserious employer, but also that the state, we here and other people in this country, have supported this activity by having tax money go to the people who run this company for a very long time.
I also want to take the opportunity to say something else. There is a lot of talk about authorities, cooperation and so on. That is of course very important. The A-krim center is a very good thing. But there is also every possibility to work to strengthen the trade unions' role at these types of workplaces so that an alarm can be raised early if something is not right.
In this case, it has been difficult when employers have not cooperated with trade unions. But it might also be a reason for responsible authorities to take notice when they see that these employers refuse to cooperate with trade unions.
In several of today's interpellation debates, we have spoken well about the Swedish model. Employers' cooperation with trade unions is a fundamental part of the Swedish model and of the spirit of consensus that in many parts has emerged in the Swedish labor market.
It is my hope that Arbetsförmedlingen in the future will become better at following up on this type of work, that we will avoid reading about this type of exploitation that is subsidized with tax funds, and that in the future we can avoid having to take part in this type of reporting. It is my absolute hope, and I look forward to taking part in the government's work. If we experience that there is more to be done, we will have to return to the chamber.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! This is not the first time we have had this type of debate about subsidized employment and what they finance, as well as what cheating and what frauds they lead to. This happened long before the National Audit Office's report, which contained both scathing criticism and very sharp proposals on what could be done to tackle this. It is nothing we hear to the same extent from this government.
We welcome the proposals that the Minister has mentioned here. They are good, but we do not see that these measures are sufficient to meet such an extensive societal problem as this. It concerns enormously large sums of tax revenue that could be used more accurately. They could lead to what is the point and purpose of subsidizing employment, namely that people should have a good working life, enter the labor market and perform well, under good conditions and circumstances. However, that is not what we see. That is not what is happening.
One of our proposals was that the payments should be stopped until it can be ensured that not a single tax crown goes to this type of organized criminal activity and exploitation of people. However, this government did not consider that necessary. They considered that the payments can continue with tightened control and follow-up. That is, however, far from sufficient.
Can the Minister say that no payments are now being made that lead to tax money financing this type of unserious actors? If the Minister cannot answer that this is not happening, perhaps these payments should be stopped. If one truly means business in this matter, it is that type of measure that is required.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! Let me point out some additional measures being taken.
In the regulatory letter to Arbetsförmedlingen for 2025, the government tasked the agency with reporting the measures the agency has taken or plans to take in light of the recommendations provided to the agency in the Swedish National Audit Office's audit report. It is an ongoing work that we will continue with.
Arbetsförmedlingen shall also report how the agency has handled the recommendations in the Swedish Enterprise Agency's report Ensuring correct payments from the welfare systems – proposed measures 2024.
Arbetsförmedlingen shall also contribute to the goal that the incorrect payments from the welfare systems and the crime directed against these systems shall decrease.
The extent of incorrect payments of the compensations that Arbetsförmedlingen manages and the crime directed against these compensations and against the compensation system shall decrease. Arbetsförmedlingen shall report on the goal fulfillment and the measures taken to reduce the incorrect payments as well as how one reduces the crime directed against the welfare systems. An assessment of the effects of the various measures shall also be made.
I also want to point out in this context something I mentioned earlier, namely that this government has begun to tear down secrecy barriers. It is completely central for this to work in practice. We can give any assignments we want to different agencies, but if they cannot talk to each other, it becomes very difficult.
We now have a new law on reporting obligations to counter incorrect payments from the welfare systems as well as fraud, rule violations, and crime in the working life. The so-called "luffalagen" implies, among other things, an obligation – not an opportunity but an obligation – for certain authorities to exchange information needed to carry out joint authority controls in the work against work-life crime.
In the reporting from the cooperating authorities, within the mandate they have, it appears that the conditions for the joint agency work against crime in the labor market have improved significantly since the law entered into force. In May, the government submitted the bill Increased information exchange between agencies – a new confidentiality-breaking provision to the Riksdag. It aims to break down even more confidentiality barriers between the agencies.
Adrian Magnusson (S)
Madam Speaker! I believe that during the upcoming parliamentary session, we will have a number of debates where clear ideological differences may emerge. I believe, however, that we agree that work-life crime, as I said in my first speech, is a poison that plagues society, creates major social problems and, above all, subjects people to terrible suffering. Work-life crime exploits and takes advantage of people when they do something that is fundamental for the vast majority and that is absolutely necessary to be able to put food on the table, namely work. Therefore, we must be prepared to take powerful measures to combat work-life crime.
That is why it stings extra much when tax money, as in this case, has been used to support this type of work-life crime. It hurts me, and I hope it hurts many who are watching this debate, either in a live broadcast or afterwards.
It should not be so difficult to do what both my colleagues mentioned earlier in the debate: blacklist this type of company from participating in such support. How long should the blacklisting last? Perhaps forever – that is something I could very well imagine. Some kind of blacklisting should be possible to ensure that this type of company never again gets to participate in this type of subsidies.
It is of fundamental importance that we work broadly against crime against the working life, that we fight it with force and that we ensure that the state does not nourish crime against the working life but fights it.
We will certainly have reason to return to the question during the next parliamentary meeting. I would like to thank you for the debate today. I think it has been good.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! We seem to be in great agreement on the ambitions. Work-related crime is part of a shadow economy that threatens the welfare and finances other crime, including gangs. It must be combated, and the cooperating authorities working against work-related crime have a crucial role in this work.
I want to pause a bit at what several of the members, not least Sofia Amloh, have raised regarding the fact that certain groups and certain individuals are particularly vulnerable. That is the case – they are exploited and subjected to substandard working conditions, insecure employment, and a deficient work environment. As was mentioned here, they are also subjected to exploitation and human trafficking. I want to point out that human trafficking and human exploitation should be combated within the framework of the joint agency work against crime in the labor market. It is certainly good if we get more convictions, but it is even better if we have no cases at all.
With this, I would like to thank you very much for this discussion and debate – it has been a pleasant time together – and wish everyone a continued pleasant evening.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.