Response to interpellation 2025/26:422 on the government's labor market and integration policy

Arbetsmarknadsminister och vikarierande klimat- och miljöministern Johan Britz (L)

Mr. Speaker! Lawen Redar has asked me what the reasons are for the Arbetsförmedlingen returning 4.3 billion kronor to the state treasury during 2025 while over half a million people are outside the labor market. Furthermore, she has asked if I intend to take any measures in light of this situation.

I would like to begin by thanking the interpellor for raising this important issue.

It is worth noting that more than half of the savings in appropriations concern expenditures that Arbetsförmedlingen cannot directly influence. This applies, for example, to activity support within the job and development guarantee, establishment allowance, new start jobs, and establishment jobs.

In line with previous years, it does not explain the entire savings in appropriations. The Government notes in the budget bill for 2026 that during 2024 there were appropriation funds to provide more unemployed people with support and interventions, for example in the form of labor market training, regional vocational adult education, and workplace-based interventions, such as work placements and subsidized employment (prop. 2025/26:1). These supports and interventions could have been used to a greater extent. This situation also applies to 2025.

In this year's budget, Arbetsförmedlingen is given an increase in the administrative grant to strengthen matching and control.

The Government continues the work of streamlining the labor market policy with support and measures adapted to the different circumstances and needs of the unemployed.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Lawen Redar (S)

Mr. Speaker! This Monday evening, there is a lot of integration on the table, and I thank the Minister for Employment for our previous debate and the one that is now about to begin.

According to the Swedish Statistics Bureau's labor force surveys, unemployment in our country was 8.8 percent in the month of February. Among those born in Sweden, it was 6.2 percent last year, while for those born abroad, it was as high as 16.4 percent. It is a considerable difference.

Explanatory factors are that many in the group, unemployed foreign-born individuals, come from refugee countries and have a relatively short length of stay in Sweden. Generally, the education level is also lower. However, it is difficult to generalize the group because education level, reasons for immigration, and length of stay truly differ.

It is important to remember that Sweden's population consists of 2.2 million foreign-born Swedes, of whom an absolute majority live ordinary lives, so-called "svenssonliv," and live in villas, drive Volvos, and contribute to and develop our country just like everyone else. For example, foreign-born Swedes are a fundamental part of the welfare state's workforce. Nearly 300,000 employees in healthcare, nursing, elderly care, preschool, and public transport are born in other countries. 33,000 nursing assistants and healthcare assistants have come to Sweden in just the last ten years. It must simply be stated that without foreign-born Swedes, the welfare state would not be able to fulfill its mission.

The number of foreign-born people who are employed has increased. In 2005, 520,000 foreign-born people were in work; today, the corresponding figure is 1.2 million. But at the same time, there are also more who are without jobs. Surveys show that many foreign-born people have sought jobs for a long time and have weak networks in the established labor market, insufficient language skills, and shorter schooling.

Since the Tidö government took office in 2022, unemployment has increased, not only among foreign-born individuals but also among Swedish-born individuals, for example among young people, construction workers, and academics. The result of the government's labor market policy is 100,000 more in unemployment, and unemployment increased not only in 2023 but also in 2024 and 2025. In 2024–2025, it increased by as many as 30,000 people, which is a terrifying figure. Obviously, the Minister for Employment is doing something wrong, and unfortunately, he does it every year. This is not how it looks in comparable European countries. Sweden has the third highest unemployment in the EU.

The problem with the current labor market policy is that it does not work. It is not about that unemployment is high and being combated, but rather that the Ministry of Employment has actually been passive. Resources for labor market policy are being cut, and eventually, Arbetsförmedlingen, i.e., the agency that is supposed to work for support and interventions for the unemployed, has returned 4.3 billion to the treasury. Within the framework of labor market policy programs alone, Arbetsförmedlingen returns over 1 billion kronor, equivalent to 3,200 workplace trainings.

If the Minister for Employment does not know how to use the resources, he might as well hand over the task. I know exactly what 4.3 billion could have been used for: more language training and more labor market policy interventions to counteract unemployment and increase the language and human capital among the unemployed. One could also introduce repayment stops and give the agency better conditions to procure labor market training.

But what does the Minister for Employment want? That is the big question.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Arbetsmarknadsminister och vikarierande klimat- och miljöministern Johan Britz (L)

Mr. Speaker! To begin with, we can state that it is not entirely negative that some of the money that Arbetsförmedlingen has received in appropriations is not being spent, as it means that fewer people are receiving activity support within the job and development guarantee and that fewer people have establishment allowance, for example. It is positive.

Then there is a part of what Arbetsförmedlingen submits that is less positive – that is the case. It is unsatisfactory that the number of participants in different types of interventions and subsidized employments is not high enough. The money that has been allocated to Arbetsförmedlingen for different types of interventions could have been used to a greater extent.

We have a problem that is based on the fact that we are currently restructuring the Swedish Public Employment Service's work in order to leave or at least reduce Rusta and Matcha, which were easy to increase volumes in. Now, the work must focus on interventions aimed at those people who often stand furthest from the labor market and where the Swedish Public Employment Service itself needs to make a larger effort.

It is one of the reasons why we have increased Arbetsförmedlingen's administrative appropriation – so that they will have resources so that they can assign more people to different types of interventions and training. It is a work that is ongoing. From the government's perspective, of course, there is nothing that becomes better by Arbetsförmedlingen not using those resources for, above all, training and other things that we have appropriated and that the Riksdag has made decisions on.

We see now that certain measures increase the influx of people. For example, labor market training and work placements are increasing. I assess this to be a consequence of the fact that we are, to some extent, restructuring Arbetsförmedlingen's mandate. In 2025, for example, more people started a wage subsidy than during 2024.

I stay there for as long as that.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Lawen Redar (S)

Mr. Speaker! A proposal that the Minister for Employment could have developed is a repayment stop. It provides better conditions for municipalities to procure labor market training, which the municipalities can also assign. We know that the activity obligation means that the municipalities know who is unemployed and potentially receiving social assistance.

Again: It is about a cost that could have enabled over 3,200 workplace trainings. It is an enormous amount of resources, especially in a time when we have begun to reach historical levels for unemployment in our country. It must involve many and differentiated measures.

It is different groups that are in unemployment today. It is everyone from academics to domestically born young people who have ended up in unemployment despite having done what is expected of them in a society. They have completed primary school and secondary school with full grades and established themselves in higher education or vocational training but still have not entered employment. This applies particularly to construction workers and newly graduated architects.

Of those registered as unemployed at Arbetsförmedlingen, 109,000 have pre-secondary education, 129,000 have secondary education, and 118,000 have post-secondary education. One-third are therefore educated unemployed with an academic background. It is a group that should not be in unemployment at all. The measures for that group have been missing, and furthermore, they are cutting down on their opportunities to receive any form of financial support. They have reduced the support level that existed in the account, which was previously higher than it is today.

Regarding unemployed people with a foreign background who are not self-sufficient or who have been in long-term unemployment, the minister's picture is correct. It is about weak language skills and low educational background, but it is rarely about motivation. That is exactly why the Fiscal Policy Council and also the OECD state that the Swedish government must do more. There is an expectation that more should be done, because these are groups that have motivation. They have left a country of origin and have the motivation to establish themselves in a new society. If one can develop the motivation of these people so that they do not fall into passivity, there is a great opportunity to move forward.

I have visited several folk high schools that are focused on vocational Swedish and practical experience, for example, the Red Cross Folk High School here in Stockholm. There, it is known that there is a shortage of kitchen staff in elderly care and in schools, and they have therefore matched a training program that specifically foreign-born women, who have a very weak educational background and weak Swedish language skills and who have been in a state of passivity for a long time, have been allowed to attend.

They learned "matsvenska," as it is called. They also practiced for eight weeks at one of the places where such an opportunity exists, and 70 percent of the student body got jobs after eight to twelve months of education. It is clear that more matched training places based on the shortage occupations we have in society also enable entry for groups that are far from entering the labor market. For such a group of women, the language sharpens, but it also enables a strengthened self-confidence that allows them later in the day to be an active parent who meets the children and their need for a parent who can set boundaries. Finally, it also provides participation in Swedish society.

My question to the Minister for Employment is: Is the current labor market policy not far too weak when we have such historically high unemployment, and what additional measures is the Minister for Employment prepared to take during the coming mandate period if he continues to have confidence? I do not hope for that, however, on the grounds that the four years with this policy speak for themselves.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Arbetsmarknadsminister och vikarierande klimat- och miljöministern Johan Britz (L)

Mr. Speaker! As I touched upon in previous discussions during this evening, I believe we agree with each other on quite a lot. The first thing we agree on is that unemployment is very bad. It is harmful to the individual, it is a loss for society, and it is dangerous for the children who do not see their parents go to work in the morning.

Then we agree on the importance of education – different types of education for different types of roles on the labor market but also based on the needs one has. It can be labor market training, it can be yrkesvux, it can be yrkeshögskola and it can be study-preparatory courses at folkhögskolan, very focused on language. I have visited such ones myself, and they are very fine operations. One is also struck by the enormous challenge we are talking about. There are people who have been in Sweden for maybe 10–15 years but who can hardly manage to talk about their family circumstances in Swedish.

I believe that drivers are important. It is a component in this. Here it seems that we do not agree with each other. Here I perceive that the interpellator and the Social Democrats are driving a policy that would mean longer periods of unemployment and that fewer children would see their parents go to work in the morning. I think that would be very unfortunate and furthermore dangerous.

Then we must also understand the magnitude of this challenge. That individuals who have been in Sweden for a long time basically do not speak any Swedish is a huge challenge for the individual. If we then multiply this by 100,000 or 200,000, we understand what we have to deal with.

During the next mandate period, I believe we will see a great need for continued investments, but in the direction that this government has laid out: education that leads to jobs, shorter or longer, combined education, vocational skills and language. We will need to see continued opportunities for people to consume so that we get the wheels turning in the Swedish economy so that more jobs are created, and we will need to continue to drive a strict asylum migration so that we have resources to help those who are here.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Lawen Redar (S)

Mr. Speaker! There are some things we agree on. It is quite true, what the Minister for Employment expresses – the establishment of strict migration is necessary to remedy the integration challenges that Sweden has today.

We Social Democrats will proceed with significantly more language initiatives than the current government has started. The reason for this is that we have carried out a major policy development work. I myself have been the leader of one of the working groups that has looked at what is required to strengthen the Swedish language, actually among the entire population but especially among those groups that definitely face challenges if they do not receive support measures.

We also think that the activity and language requirements in the social assistance are important. We see that 50 percent of those who are in social assistance today do so solely because they are unemployed, not because they have other needs.

We also see a need for more labor market policy measures such as extra services, subsidized employment, training that leads to jobs, labor market training and the like. The problem is only that the Liberals have cut back on labor market policy and had a deeply passive department during the time they have led it. Furthermore, they have replaced one, two, three of the ministers in the area because they haven't even had order on who it is that should lead the assignment.

But what concerns me most is the press conference that Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had with the leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson. It is for that reason that it has already been stated that the only party that doesn't even believe in integration policy should be allowed to lead the department that the Minister for Employment partially leads at the moment.

What does the Minister for Employment believe these consequences will be for the belief in integration and for the enabling of more people to enter the workforce and become part of a Swedish community, develop in the Swedish language, and be an active citizen on equal terms as everyone else?

I believe it is very serious that even now, before election day has even occurred, the decision has been made to offer the only party that does not even believe in integration policy the opportunity to lead a department responsible for the same.

I can also say this in the final stage of the debate: I regret that these four years have not led to more, and that we instead see 100,000 more people in unemployment, of whom 33,000 more are in our social benefit systems. It is not the type of labor market policy that is good for our country.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Arbetsmarknadsminister och vikarierande klimat- och miljöministern Johan Britz (L)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to start by thanking you for this discussion.

At the same time, I must point out the legacy we had to deal with when we took over the responsibility for Sweden after the 2022 election. It was a situation where we had had an enormous influx of immigrants to Sweden, asylum-related immigration, which meant that the Swedish systems and the labor market policy, the social policy, and the criminal justice policy were under enormous stress and pressure.

We have been tackling this progressively. Bit by bit, we have reformed the crime policy and the migration policy.

We have also, to some extent, changed the labor market policy. We are investing in education that leads to jobs. We are limiting, or reducing, the privatization experiment that the Social Democrats and the Center Party carried out in the form of Rusta och matcha.

We believe that we will need to do more during the next term, or we are convinced of it. We will need to do more to equip the people who are here. But do not think that it is not also about us having to ensure the drivers!

I would like to urge the Social Democrats to take another look at the subsidy reform that this government has presented. I genuinely believe that it will be an important piece of the puzzle in solving the enormous integration challenge we face.

The interpellation debate was hereby concluded.

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