Response to interpellation 2025/26:202 on the Swedish Public Employment Service's local presence
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns Arbetsförmedlingen's local presence and support for job seekers. L argues that the government is providing resources to improve conditions and expand the cohesive matching support 1 2. L emphasizes that the agency should be able to design its operations to ensure physical meetings and local knowledge 2. L also invests in the university college (yrkeshögskolan) and more labor market educations to meet the skills shortage 3 4. MP criticizes the government for withdrawing physical support, which leads to growing telephone queues and job seekers falling between the cracks 5 6. MP argues that the government's supplement is insufficient and that there are goal conflicts in the management 5 7 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! Leila Ali Elmi has asked me if I intend to take measures to immediately re-establish and strengthen Arbetsförmedlingens local presence throughout the country to ensure that municipalities are not left without a functioning Arbetsförmedling, as well as how I and the government intend to ensure that job seekers, regardless of where in the country they live, get access to the support and guidance they need, not only via digital channels but through real meetings and local knowledge.
I would like to start by thanking Leila Ali Elmi for raising this important issue.
At present, Arbetsförmedlingen has 83 permanently staffed offices. In addition to this, the agency has 24 offices that the agency's staff travel to as needed and 106 so-called cooperation solutions with others, primarily municipalities. In addition to Arbetsförmedlingen's local offices, there are also 128 service offices in the country that offer guidance and service for, among other things, Arbetsförmedlingen.
The prolonged recession continues to affect the labor market, and unemployment in Sweden remains high. Therefore, the government added 60 million kronor to Arbetsförmedlingen in the year-end budget for 2025 (prop. 2024/25:99) for the purpose of improving Arbetsförmedlingen's conditions to handle increased unemployment. That Arbetsförmedlingen has good accessibility and can provide good service is extra important when many people are unemployed.
In accordance with the mandate in Arbetsförmedlingen's regulatory letter for 2024 and 2025 regarding reinforced support to effectively match the long-term unemployed with employers, the agency has begun work to expand the integrated matching support, and the government has increased the grant funds for the activity. The government views the development of the integrated matching support positively.
The number of participants in matching services has decreased during the year after a few years with a significant increase in the number of participants. The Government considers that there have been deficiencies in the cost-effectiveness of the matching services. Against the background of the challenges in the labor market, especially for groups that are further away from the labor market, it is clear that the matching services need to be supplemented with other types of support. Resources that Arbetsförmedlingen previously utilized for the processing of outsourced matching services have been redistributed to the work with job seekers who have other support needs, including to integrated matching support.
Leila Ali Elmi (MP)
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister for Employment for the answer. It is positive that the Minister shares the view that Arbetsförmedlingens local presence is important, especially in a time of mass unemployment.
A few weeks ago, I met a job seeker in Gothenburg. He told me how he had been bounced between different actors and employment agencies. Every time, he was forced to start over with his story and talk about his obstacles and his situation. This is not an effective labor market policy. It is a merry-go-round, and a merry-go-round prolongs unemployment. When the support becomes a relay baton that is passed on, the job seeker loses both motivation and faith in the future.
Madam Speaker! At the same time as the government, during most of this mandate period, which is now nearing its end, has prioritized tax cuts for those who already have the most, it has announced the closure of 29 state service offices.
In Åmål, the state service office closed on May 30. With that, the state's physical presence disappeared completely. When Arbetsförmedlingen previously closed 22 offices in the region, the message was that the service offices would take over. Now those are also disappearing. The result is that the telephone queues to Arbetsförmedlingen are growing and that both job seekers and employers get stuck in queues that lead nowhere.
Telephone queues do not lower unemployment. An active, present and powerful labor market policy does. Just where the needs are greatest, the government withdraws the support. It is like turning off the light where it is already darkest.
Then we have the funding that the Minister referred to – 60 million kronor in the supplementary budget. But Arbetsförmedlingen assesses in its budget basis that for 2026 alone, 400 million kronor are needed just to maintain current operations. The government's supplement is therefore far from sufficient. Furthermore, 81 municipalities still lack any form of collaborative solution, according to the Riksdag's investigation service. They therefore lack local presence entirely.
Madam Speaker! The Minister also highlights the integrated matching support. I welcome that the government is taking steps, albeit small, in the right direction. It is good that more long-term unemployed receive more support than standard measures. Reinforced matching efforts under the auspices of Arbetsförmedlingen are absolutely necessary to reduce unemployment. But that calls for more local presence, not less.
Arbetsförmedlingen states that within the matching support, local contacts with employers should be expanded. We cannot, therefore, simultaneously accept a model where the state withdraws from entire towns. Cooperation requires presence, matching requires local knowledge, and a cohesive support requires that someone is actually on site and takes overall responsibility.
Therefore, I want to repeat my question to the Minister: When will the government take the initiative for Arbetsförmedlingen to re-establish staffed offices or fixed meeting places in the municipalities that currently stand completely without them, and if so, when?
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! It is an important question that Leila Ali Elmi poses and which we are discussing here today. It is fundamentally about how those who are furthest away from the labor market can receive the support they need.
We are, I believe, reasonably in agreement that the matching services that exist within the choice system are not always the right way to go without more direct efforts from Arbetsförmedlingen.
That is also why the government has allocated resources to Arbetsförmedlingen this year, but also next year and in coming years. I mentioned that we made an addition in our amendment budget for 2025. Arbetsförmedlingen is allocated 100 million kronor for 2026, 200 million kronor for 2027, and 300 million kronor from 2028.
It is the agency Arbetsförmedlingen's mandate to also calibrate and determine where one is in our country, in which localities, and where one has its offices. But in the instructions to Arbetsförmedlingen, it also states that the operations shall be designed so that the job seekers who need physical meetings can receive them, so that appropriate employer contacts are ensured, so that cooperation with municipalities and other actors is enabled, so that projects in cooperation with municipalities and other actors are promoted, and so that the agency's knowledge of local and regional labor markets is maintained.
Leila Ali Elmi (MP)
Madam Speaker! The fact is that today, here and now, people are left without the support that actually brings them closer to a job.
We have a results problem. Unemployment in Sweden remains high. SCB reported 9.3 percent for the second quarter of 2025. It remains among the highest unemployment figures in the EU.
Madam Speaker! We can talk about mandates. We can even talk about the supplements the Minister mentioned here in the rostrum. Just for this budget year, Arbetsförmedlingen has demanded 400 million. It is quite clear that the money the government is adding is not enough. We can talk about regulatory letters and new names for initiatives, but the government fails on two crucial points with a lack of local presence and governance that does not work in practice.
A central flaw in the government's management is that Arbetsförmedlingen is simultaneously to increase referrals to Rusta and match and to education. In practice, these goals are in conflict with one another. The educational interventions end up later in the assessment chain, even in cases where labor market training would be more accurate. It is not a result of individual caseworkers' assessments but a direct consequence of the Tidö government's policy.
People need actual conversations, meetings, a plan and a way forward. This applies especially to those who lack digital habits or are far from the labor market. Municipalities cannot collaborate with a state actor that lacks a local presence.
Madam Speaker! At the end of November, MUCF's major report on young people in marginalized areas was released. It also clearly points out the need for a present employment service to ensure that the unemployed have access to support. The report shows that the government's policy not only fails the unemployed and employers but also the cohesion of society. When the state withdraws, people are left without support.
The Minister for Employment has said repeatedly that people should move to where the jobs are. That may seem reasonable at first glance, but for people who are rooted to be able to move, support and actual conditions are required.
Therefore, I want to repeat my question again, because I feel that the Minister is not quite answering it. Will the government take responsibility for ensuring that Arbetsförmedlingen is re-established where it is missing today? It is only then that job seekers and employers can actually meet and be matched with real local knowledge and presence.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! I believe that the member and I are in quite a lot of agreement in this discussion.
Let me take up what Leila Ali Elmi highlighted regarding education. There is a great need to reduce the skills shortage in certain sectors and strengthen the transition ability of many unemployed – not all, some have the skills, but a large number need it. Therefore, we are doing a number of different things.
We have added money to more labor market trainings. Today we have more places in labor market trainings than people who attend the trainings.
We have introduced a pilot project with a new form of national vocational education for adults at the upper secondary level, where the university college (yrkeshögskolan) serves as the model. The pilot was originally planned to run until 2026. Now we have extended it to 2028, as the interest in this model has been great. We are also increasing the resources starting from 2026.
We are investing in the university colleges, which have an important role in meeting the large competence needs across Sweden to enable a transition and improve the matching on the labor market. We assess that there is a continued large demand for university college education. Therefore, we are investing 180 million kronor in 2026, including student grants, for a continued expansion.
What I think we need to move forward with now is that Arbetsförmedlingen directs the unemployed to the type of training positions that we now have and that we are expanding. It is a task that will continue.
Leila Ali Elmi (MP)
Madam Speaker! Arbetsförmedlingen points out in its reporting why the volumes in the labor market trainings are not increasing. They have described what I spoke about earlier, i.e., that there is a conflict of objectives. They are to refer to Rusta and match at the same time as they are to refer to labor market trainings. They describe themselves that the labor market trainings come later in the assessment chain. In that case, it is the government's management that is the problem and not Arbetsförmedlingen. The responsibility to change this lies with the government and ultimately with the Minister for Employment.
Madam Speaker! When presence disappears, people fall between the cracks. The government's policy has failed to guarantee that support reaches everyone. It is not a coincidence, but it is a governance problem. Instead of strengthening the support for those who need it most, the government engages in ideological experiments. It is said that it should pay to work, but in practice, the conditions are worsened for those who are temporarily in need of society's safety net.
Madam Speaker! The unemployed are not lazy and are not unwilling, and the high unemployment is not due to excessively high benefits. The government and the Minister for Employment know this very well.
At the same time, we know that the queues to the soup kitchens are growing and that poverty in Sweden has doubled. Among the unemployed, there are people who lack education and people with short education. There are people who have been competed out by AI. There are people over 55 who have both education and long experience, whom no one wants to hire. They deserve respect, Madam Speaker. They deserve support, and they deserve a labor market policy worthy of the name.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! I thank Member Leila Ali Elmi again for raising this important issue.
I completely agree. People in unemployment deserve both respect and support. Therefore, this government is investing heavily in breaking the recession and, in that process, also breaking unemployment. We ensure that there are educations that lead to jobs. The most central tool for a person to be able to get a job is that they have a competence and a skill that is in demand by the employer, whether it is private or public.
We ensure that we create the right incentives so that one earns more if one works. This also means that we help to get the wheels turning a bit faster and get consumption started in our country, which leads to more jobs.
We also – and will continue to – pursue a strict policy regarding asylum migration to ensure that we have resources to help and support the people who are in our country.
We also completely agree that for people who are further away from the labor market, it is important with a more intensified matching support. We want more of what I believe Leila Ali Elmi is requesting, i.e., a matching support and an active employer work. That was why I mentioned that Arbetsförmedlingen had a mandate in the regulatory letter for 2024, which was extended in the regulatory letter for 2025, regarding reinforced support to effectively match the long-term unemployed with employers.
This work has been initiated at the agency. They have begun expanding what we call the coherent matching support. I foresee that that expansion will continue.
Those who are furthest from the labor market, the long-term unemployed, need more support from Arbetsförmedlingen than they receive today. I completely agree with that. With that, I wish you a Merry Christmas.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.