Response to interpellation 2025/26:556 on labor market policy

Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)

Mr. Speaker! Patrik Björck has asked me whether it is my assessment that the government's labor market policy has achieved what it intended to achieve or if I intend to work for further measures to be taken to reduce the number of unemployed.

I would like to begin by thanking the interpellor for the question.

The government has taken a number of measures to reduce unemployment by supporting the economy's recovery and prioritizes reforms within, above all, three areas. It is about continuing to strengthen households' purchasing power, about reforms for increased growth, and about re-establishing the work principle so that more people enter employment.

Many unemployed people are far from the labor market. The government has therefore tasked Arbetsförmedlingen with using its own staff to strengthen the support for the long-term unemployed and improve the matching between the unemployed and vacant jobs, as well as the monitoring of the unemployed.

The most important individual contribution to establishing oneself on the labor market in the long term is education. The government has therefore made major investments in, among other things, regional vocational adult education and the university college.

To reduce unemployment, it is also important to increase the professional and geographical mobility of job seekers as well as improve the monitoring and follow-up of the unemployed.

In the government bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:100), the government makes the assessment that the equilibrium unemployment rate will trend downwards going forward, for the first time in 20 years.

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.

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Patrik Björck (S)

Mr. Speaker! It is an exciting answer we receive from the Minister for Employment. I can state that I do not quite get an answer to my questions.

I asked whether the labor market policy had achieved what it intended to achieve. The answer from the Minister for Employment seems to be that he is satisfied – business as usual. There are no actual problems to handle.

Then it becomes a bit complicated, because it is a view that is not shared by particularly many others in this country. The unemployed are naturally disappointed by the lack of labor market policy. The employers are disappointed that, despite having needs, they do not receive support to be able to obtain employable people with the education and competence that is required. It is nevertheless this that is the main purpose of labor market policy: to ensure that the needs of employers and the unemployed are matched so that they can meet.

The trade union organizations are naturally not satisfied. Their members are left without jobs, and they naturally want the members to have the jobs that are available.

One of the most remarkable parts of the answer, Mr. Speaker, is that the Minister for Employment is talking about restoring the work line so that more people get into work. It is remarkable because we have debated this for 20 years in this chamber, as long as I have sat here. After the 2006 election, I had these debates with Littorin, Borg, and Reinfeldt, who claimed that they would restore the work line with their policy.

I am convinced, Mr. Speaker, that Littorin, Borg and Reinfeldt believed in their policy – that in 2006 they actually believed that the so-called work line would reduce unemployment. Now, the tragedy is that reality is knocking. When they resigned after having tried to introduce the work line for eight years, it turned out that unemployment had instead increased during the two parliamentary terms they were given to try to introduce the so-called work line.

So, Kristersson's government and the current Minister for Employment are now trying to re-establish the work line. After 20 years, one has the same answer as to what the solution is. The problem is that it did not work in 2006 and it does not work now either.

The problem with the absence of labor market policy is precisely the great skills shortage. Many unemployed people lack the knowledge and skills that are needed and that the employer demands. If one does not have a policy that solves the real problem, but instead just some kind of mantra repeating a 20-year-old slogan from the 2006 election campaign which, after eight years, turned out not to work, the result will be the same.

There is a well-known quote from a representative of the Minister for Employment, namely his party colleague Johan Pehrson. He said that it has been too "fat" to be unemployed. That was Johan Pehrson's way of describing unemployment and the work principle: It has been too "fat" to be unemployed. The current Minister for Employment is now repeating it. The same policy with 20-year-old slogans, but no labor market policy. Zero labor market policy but high unemployment. It is not sufficient, Mr. Speaker.

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Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)

Mr. Speaker! Patrik Björck has, just like I have, been involved in Swedish politics for a while. We have seen reforms and proposals come and go. We have seen unemployment rise, and we have seen unemployment fall.

The problem in 2006 that the Alliance government addressed was that Göran Persson had prematurely pensioned off half a million people. In 2006, Sweden had more early retirees than entrepreneurs. Therefore, it was extremely important to then re-establish the work line, not only for Sweden's economy and for the sake of the companies but also for the sake of the people. The work line is about opening doors instead of locking people into passivity and exclusion, which is always the Social Democrats' recipe.

Now the challenge looks a bit different. Now it is not Göran Persson who has prematurely retired people from the labor market, but now it is the Socialdemokraterna who have conducted an irresponsible migration policy which, just as the interpellor points out, means that those who today stand outside the labor market largely lack the competencies and skills, not least the Swedish language, that companies demand.

It is still strange, isn't it, that we have a high, too high, unemployment – there we agree – while at the same time companies are crying out for competence? What is that a sign of? Well, it is a sign that the asylum immigration has been too high and that the education systems are not delivering what they promise. Therefore, the most important question to address, which we have worked on during the mandate period, is to ensure that there are educations and measures that lead to jobs, not to passivity and early retirement. There, we have turned the policy around.

There must be more vocational educations that are adapted to what the employers demand, more opportunities to build upon an education, and more combination educations. Vocational educations in something that some of us may perceive as easy, for example cleaning hotel rooms, combined with language educations is the way forward if we want to break the dangerous exclusion and the long-term passivity that many people experience today.

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Patrik Björck (S)

Mr. Speaker! I argued that the slogan-based policy formulated before the 2006 election campaign regarding the reintroduction of the work line did not work then. One can have different ideological starting points, and I believe that Littorin, Borg, and Reinfeldt believed in their policy. Eight years of failures proved that they were wrong. We can actually go even further back in time and show that what Johan Britz is talking about will never work.

I had a debate on Thursday with the Minister for Finance, and I asked her a question about all the right-wing governments that have existed in modern times after the Second World War. It was the Fälldin governments between 1976 and 1982. They left behind a large tax debt, high unemployment, and low growth. Then we had the Bildt government from 1991 to 1994. It left behind a large state debt, low growth, and high unemployment. Then we had the Reinfeldt government from 2006 to 2014 which left behind high unemployment, low growth, and a large state debt. And now, for the fourth time, we will be affected by a right-wing government in Sweden.

When we summarize the parliamentary term, not the slogans – it is important to distinguish between slogans and reality, the results, what actually happened when the policy that Johan Britz advocates was pursued – all figures point downwards when it comes to economy and growth. No figures point downwards when it comes to pressing down unemployment – they point upwards.

Johan Britz is held responsible; he must abandon slogan politics. It is not only I, as a Social Democratic Member of Parliament, who is upset. I began by saying that the employers are upset about the lack of labor market policy. The trade union organizations are upset about the lack of labor market policy. In fact, nothing is being done regarding what the Minister is trying to convey in slogan form from the rostrum.

Has anything real emerged – anything concrete? Is there no reflection on why right-wing politics always fails? Could it be that unemployment is not due to it being too "fat" to be unemployed? Could it be that one must consider why the politics that have never worked before do not work now either? One might have to listen to the business sector, which demands an active labor market policy and an opportunity to hire people.

It is not enough to say that one will educate people in shortage occupations; one must actually do it. That is not being done today. Then we would not have this unemployment. Reality is the right-wing governments' worst enemy. I understand that one ideologically and sloganistically repeats that the work line shall be re-established. Then one leaves behind high unemployment, high national debt, and low growth. How is it that the Finance Minister today can invoke the good public finances when she tries to explain why one manages to debt oneself out of the crises? The only explanation for that is that between the four catastrophes – the right-wing governments – we have had Social Democratic governments that have cleaned up the economy and the unemployment and got the country back on its feet. We will do that again after the election.

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Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)

Mr. Speaker! It is Patrik Björck who needs to update his language. It is slogan politics that I hear in the chamber today from Patrik Björck. Time to update the talking points.

We have a lower national debt now than when Magdalena Andersson was Finance Minister. We have a plan to handle the situation prevailing on the labor market, where there is far too high unemployment and long-term exclusion. Half of those unemployed are foreign-born. Of those who are long-term unemployed, approximately six out of ten are foreign-born. It is about education that leads to jobs. Gradually, step by step, we are adjusting the education system.

This was not the big question in 2006. Back then, the big question was to reform the welfare system. We have certainly done that as well, and above all, we have made it more profitable to work by lowering taxes for those who work and who have worked. Is Patrik Björck against that? It would be interesting to hear. Are the Social Democrats against that? It would be interesting to hear.

We are implementing a subsidy reform with the aim of activating those people who have been passive and forced into passivity for a long time. This is being done with the help of an activity requirement. It exists in many conservative-led municipalities, and there it has a good effect. On the other hand, it does not exist in as many social democratically governed municipalities. It is therefore that we are implementing this at a national level.

Is the proportion registered at Arbetsförmedlingen in May 2026 higher or lower than it was in May 2022? I am going to help the member update their speaking points. The proportion registered at Arbetsförmedlingen in May 2026 is lower than it was in May 2022. Is the proportion of young people who neither work nor study lower in the first quarter of 2026 or higher compared to the first quarter of 2022? I am helping the member on the fly here as well. It is lower.

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Patrik Björck (S)

Mr. Speaker! You have worsened the unemployment insurance, the Minister for Employment. You did that in 2006 as well. You do it as soon as you get the opportunity. But it has not worked. You have not succeeded with your labor market policy, which actually has only one answer to all questions: to worsen the unemployment insurance. It has never worked. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now.

Then it becomes almost a bit humorous. I apologize for chuckling here in the speaker's chair, Mr. Speaker. One continues to persist with the slogan politics of re-establishing the work line after 20 years. It just becomes slogan-like. Reality shows that it does not work.

The Minister for Employment is also engaging in number-trixing. When we come to summarize Kristersson's term of office, the national debt will be higher than when Kristersson took office. Anyone can produce the papers. It is public and nothing strange. It is clear that one can number-trix, play and joke with the figures. But it has nothing to do with reality. If one conducts a policy that contains sloganism and number-trixing, one is desperate.

I believe that the Minister for Employment sees that the policy is a failure. I even believe that the Minister for Employment knows that the policy is a failure and perhaps is beginning to sense that there is a reason why right-wing governments always fail with labor market policy, always fail with economic policy, and always fail with growth. These three things are connected. And then you also run the national debt into the ground.

It is the result of right-wing politics, regardless of whether one is ideologically blinded or not. We have it in black and white.

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Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)

Mr. Speaker! I note that Patrik Björck had nothing to say about the proportion of those registered with Arbetsförmedlingen, which was, in fact, lower in May 2026 than it was in May 2022, when Patrik Björck's party was responsible in government.

I note that Patrik Björck had nothing to say about the proportion of young people who neither work nor study being lower in the first quarter of 2026 than in the first quarter of 2022.

I note that Patrik Björck overlooks what I previously stated: that the assessment now is that the equilibrium unemployment rate, thanks to the government's reforms, will trend downwards moving forward, for the first time in 20 years.

I also note that Patrik Björck did not mention that we have raised the ceiling in the transition fund and have made the transition fund what it is supposed to be: a security between jobs, not a long-term provision that locks people into passivity.

The answer to unemployment is not benefits, at least not in the long term. It is, in fact, dangerous. It is dangerous for Sweden. And it is dangerous for the people who are unemployed. Long-term unemployment leads to psychosocial problems. It leads to a greater risk of cardiovascular diseases. It leads to a greater risk of suicide. It leads to a greater risk of risk behavior or risk use of alcohol. It is life-threatening to be unemployed.

We are fighting unemployment. We are doing so successfully now. It is going too slowly, but the curves have turned.

(Applause)

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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