Response to interpellations 2025/26:2, 4, 5 and 7 on unemployment

Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)

Madam Speaker! Jonathan Svensson has asked me what measures I and the government intend to take to push back youth unemployment. Serkan Köse has asked me what initiatives I intend to take, within my area of responsibility, so that more young people can get work or education and what measures I intend to take to break unemployment in Sweden. Adrian Magnusson has asked me what measures I and the government are taking to strengthen the labor market in Skåne and lower unemployment, and whether I and the government are prepared to take specific and targeted measures to support the Skåne municipalities that have been hit hardest by the rising unemployment.

I would like to start by thanking you for the interpellations.

A job is not only of importance for every person's economy. For most people, the value in a job means contributing to society and having access to social interaction and a context. Unemployment in Sweden is high and has been for many years. Some of the unemployment is judged to be cyclical, but the high unemployment has primarily structural causes. It is difficult for people with short education and lacking knowledge in the Swedish language to get a job.

When demand in the economy is low, unemployment usually increases and the economy is said to be in a recession. In the budget bill for 2026, it is stated that the government assesses that cyclical unemployment constitutes approximately 1 percentage point of the total unemployment. For an open economy like the Swedish one, demand in our surrounding world is also important, which can quickly have an impact on companies' and households' views on the economic outlook.

Sweden's high unemployment is primarily due to structural factors. A large proportion of the unemployed have limited skills and are far from the labor market. Around 70 percent, or approximately 250,000 people, of those registered as unemployed at Arbetsförmedlingen belong to one of the groups with weak competitiveness in the labor market, who on average run a greater risk of longer periods without work.

There are large differences in unemployment between different education levels. Unemployment among people without a high school education is approximately five times higher than among people with post-secondary education. One in three registered unemployed at Arbetsförmedlingen lacks a high school education. It is primarily the group born outside of Europe that has short education. This makes it difficult to get a job in Sweden, where at least a high school education is often required to enter the labor market.

The government has taken a number of measures to reduce unemployment. An enhanced job tax credit has been introduced, and the unemployment insurance is being reformed so that it becomes a clearer transition insurance that strengthens the work line and reduces the risk of fraud and errors.

A large proportion of the unemployed have short or no education while there are industries where there is a shortage of staff. During 2025, investments have been made in more places within both vocational adult education (yrkesvux) and universities of applied sciences (yrkeshögskolan). In the budget bill for 2026, the government proposes further investments in vocational education for adults, which includes, among other things, a reinforcement and extension of the pilot activity with National Vocational Education until 2028. This also includes an intensified expansion of the universities of applied sciences where, in addition to the planned expansion for 2026, an additional 180 million kronor is added, including student grants during 2026. The government estimates an additional 360 million kronor for 2027 and 590 million kronor annually from and including 2028, including student grants for university of applied sciences education. The government also intends to make changes to the state grant for regional vocational adult education to make it more long-term, purposeful, and flexible. The changes aim, among other things, to increase the utilization rate of the state grant and achieve more actually completed educations, increase the proportion of expensive educations within investment-heavy areas, and maintain the quality of the educations.

The subsidy level for the tax deduction for repairs has been temporarily increased during the period 12 May–31 December 2025, from 30 percent to 50 percent. It aims to support the construction industry in the current economic situation.

During the current recession, the employment rate has decreased more for young people than for other age groups, and the largest decrease in the number of employed has occurred within trade and business services, where many young people work. To support young people's opportunities in the labor market and at the same time facilitate for companies that employ young people to retain and newly hire staff, the government therefore announces in the budget bill for 2026 that a temporary reduction should be introduced of the total withdrawal of employer contributions and general wage fees on compensation to persons who have turned 18 but are not 23 years old at the beginning of the year. The reduction means that only the age pension fee and half of the other fees shall be paid on compensation up to 25,000 kronor per calendar month. The reduction is proposed to enter into force on 1 April 2026 and be applied to compensation issued during the period from 1 April 2026 up to and including 30 September 2027.

During 2025, the government is investing 250 million kronor in summer jobs and jobs for young people in municipalities with high unemployment. This is an increase of 100 million kronor since 2024. The assessment is that 15,000 young people in the country should be able to get a job through the initiative.

The government has also taken the initiative to lower the costs for small businesses to hire by improving the so-called växa-stöd. Växa-stöd is a time-limited reduction of employer contributions given to companies and entrepreneurs who are hiring for the first time.

The Government will continue to follow the developments closely.

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

Jonathan Svensson (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer that he has just presented here.

There are 100,000 more unemployed people in this country, a growth forecast at the absolute bottom of the EU, and a reality where almost every fourth young person lacks a job to go to, which is among the highest figures in Europe. This, my friends, is the result of three years with this government and the Sverigedemokraterna at the helm – three years of lacking growth policy and a lacking and constantly deprioritized active labor market policy.

This development, of course, brings with it great consequences, but one of the groups that, in my opinion, is hit hardest are all those young people who today lack a job to go to. In recent years, this group has grown significantly. It is a figure that has increased very sharply: Almost every fourth young person lacks a job to go to, which is a sharp increase under the leadership of the three labor market ministers we have had since the election in 2022.

Young people tend to be those who take the first and often hardest hit when the economy turns downward and the unemployment statistics go upward. That so many young people as 25 percent lack a job to go to will, of course, bring about great consequences for both society and individuals.

For society, it is about people risking being sidelined, that we lose tax revenues and that we do not manage to close the skills gap that exists on the Swedish labor market. For the individual, it is about the possibility of independent livelihood, the feeling of being able to contribute to our common society through one's work, but also the need for a sense of belonging in everyday life.

For young people, the situation is often a bit extra special. One might have received their first job, then get laid off and not yet qualified for a-kassa. It is not entirely uncommon. One might have signed a contract on their first rental apartment but is now losing the possibility of financing the rent. If one lacks other safety nets, one can be in a very bad position.

I think it can be stated that there are good arguments for why we should consolidate politically to manage this crisis and push back unemployment and youth unemployment.

Madam Speaker! In his response, the Minister for Employment highlights several measures that the government has chosen to proceed with. Several of these are obviously legitimate and important, but what the minister chooses to highlight first when he comes to which measures are being implemented is that "the government has taken a number of measures to reduce unemployment. An enhanced job tax credit has been introduced, and the unemployment insurance is being reformed."

I assume that since the description of an increased earned income tax credit comes first of all, it is the strongest measure one has to tackle youth unemployment. We Social Democrats are somewhat critical of that prioritization. Of course, it should pay to work. I believe we are broadly in agreement on that in the chamber. But that is also generally the case in Sweden today; it pays to work. But that some single hundred kronor in reduced tax for a youth who is unemployed and then enters work in some magical way would begin to push back youth unemployment, I am strongly questioning.

We are talking about a group where there may be many underlying causes. One may have a school failure. One may be a stay-at-home person due to mental or other ill health. In that case, I do not believe that an extra job tax deduction is the solution that gets one into the working life. I therefore want to ask the Minister for Employment about the government's most prioritized measure to push back youth unemployment. Is it an enhanced job tax deduction, or have I simply mistaken myself? In that case, the Minister is welcome to correct me on that point.

(Applause)

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

Serkan Köse (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!

We are debating unemployment today. Sweden is in mass unemployment. Over half a million people are without jobs. Since the election, more than 100,000 more people have become unemployed. Unemployment has increased in 16 of 21 counties, and Sweden now has the third highest unemployment in the entire EU.

Madam Speaker! The bankruptcies continue to pour in. Most recently, Scania 750 services in Södertälje went bankrupt. The bankruptcy statistics show record-high levels. During 2024 alone, over 10,000 limited companies went bankrupt. Svenskt Näringsliv speaks of twelve consecutive quarters of weak economic conditions. It is the longest decline in modern times. LO states that the government's policy punishes workers. TCO points to short-term tax cuts instead of long-term investments in welfare and jobs.

Madam Speaker! The criticism of the government's passive labor market policy is, therefore, extensive, not least from the parties in the Swedish labor market. Therefore, I had hoped that the government would be significantly more active and present reforms to combat mass unemployment. Instead, we are met with an empty list of bills from the Ministry of Employment. The only thing the government delivers this and next year is two circulars and one EU directive on wage transparency, in the midst of the largest unemployment crisis in over a decade.

Madam Speaker! That is not enough. We now have the third liberal Minister for Employment in three years, but still no policy worthy of the name. One can manage to change ministers, but not the course. The result after three years with the SD government is an empty toolbox, a paralyzed government, and an unemployment that remains stuck.

Madam Speaker! The Minister is happy to speak about structural problems, but that is not enough. The Government has itself worsened the situation. Cuts have been made to adult education, folk high schools, and komvux, and thus dismantled the tools required for people to be able to move forward. In the midst of this crisis stand the young people. Their generation should be met with opportunities but is now met with closed doors.

Youth unemployment in Sweden has exceeded 20 percent. It is the highest level in over ten years. In other words, every fifth young person in this country is without a job. The Agency for Youth and Civil Society Issues shows that 130,000 young people neither work nor study. These are not just figures, Madam Speaker, but it is an entire generation that risks getting stuck in hopelessness.

Madam Speaker! What is the SD government doing about this? Well, in the midst of this crisis, one chooses time and again to punish young people. First, they removed free dental care for everyone over 19, which means that many young people have to pay thousands of kronor for care that was previously free. Then, they voted no to our proposal that high school students should receive CSN payments during the summer. It would have given young people security and the opportunity to manage their finances, but the government chose to say no.

Madam Speaker! When we proposed free public transport for young people on evenings, weekends, and holidays so that more people can get to work, internships, and education, the government chose not to act at all.

Yesterday, Madam Speaker, the government – the Tidö parties – presented their budget for next year. In it, there is still nothing aimed at youth unemployment. Instead, we are met with an increased job tax credit, which does not help a single unemployed youth, and a deduction for villa owners – not for 20-year-olds seeking their first job. Lower employer contributions will not arrive until 2026. At the same time, the government is cutting back on komvux, adult education, and the folk high schools, which are precisely the steps young people need to move forward.

My question to the Minister for Employment is very simple: How can the government, in the midst of this job crisis, present a budget and a list of bills that in practice lack job-creating reforms and refuse to see the reality of the Swedish labor market here and now?

(Applause)

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

Adrian Magnusson (S)

Madam Speaker! Thanks to the Minister for Employment for the answer to the interpellations, which has developed into a general debate on unemployment given the merging of topics that are now to be addressed during the time we have together in the chamber!

I submitted the interpellation regarding unemployment in my home county. If it does not appear from my dialect, it concerns Skåne. I asked if there were any specific concrete proposals aimed at just the Skåne labor market. One could formulate it as a question of whether the government has any regional thinking in its labor market policy. Based on the answer here in the chamber today, I judge that is not the case. It is the same old policy that has been run for the last three years.

The situation in Skåne regarding the labor market is particularly difficult. Unemployment in Skåne is the highest in the country, and furthermore, some of the country's municipalities with the highest unemployment are located there. I can mention a few: Perstorp, Landskrona, Burlöv, Helsingborg and Östra Göinge. I could continue even further. What is clear is that the Skåne labor market has problems with an open unemployment of 9.2 percent.

Madam Speaker! During my time as a Member of Parliament, I have visited a great number of these municipalities. Something that is pointed out is the problems with social dumping. It is a problem that the government seems to think does not exist, against the background that, during the beginning of the mandate period, investigations were commissioned on how social dumping should be countered.

Madam Speaker! What is also missing is a present state, for example in Perstorp, which is the municipality with the highest unemployment in the entire country. There, the Arbetsförmedlingen and the state are absent. The sign on the Arbetsförmedlingen's office has long since been taken down. The municipality has been forced to take its own initiatives to get people into work. The initiatives being made in Perstorp municipality are good and important. Not infrequently, people get work from those reforms. But they are done without the initiatives that, for example, Arbetsförmedlingen contributed with. Arbetsförmedlingen's local knowledge has been damaged by the policy being pursued.

Madam Speaker! No answers were given here in the chamber on how the labor market policy shall be regionalized. Shall targeted measures be worked on towards the Scania municipalities which have some of the highest unemployment in the country? The answer is no, at least based on what the minister has said so far. Not a word is said either about the possible cooperation with Denmark. One could get people to work in Denmark, a country that has a labor shortage in many sectors but where various border barriers make it difficult for people to commute across the Öresund. Instead, we are told today about tax cuts and that a reformed AKASSA shall get more people into work. These are very general reforms that have been driven by the government since it took office three years ago.

Madam Speaker! The answer that was submitted in the chamber today is, therefore, a notification of more of the same as before, such things that have already been done and which obviously have not worked. Sweden's growth is at the bottom of Europe. The unemployment in Scania has continued to rise throughout this entire mandate period.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is usually called madness. I do not want to claim that this is madness. That would be going a bit too far, I think. But I want to claim that it is ideological blindness. There is an over-belief that tax cuts – not infrequently for the very richest – are to lead to jobs further down the chain. It is called trickle-down theory or the horse shit theory. It has been tested since Ronald Reagan's time in the 1980s. It has never ever worked.

Madam Speaker! I want to give the Minister another chance to answer the questions I have asked, for he must have bourgeois colleagues south of Hallandsåsen who are asking these questions? What does the government's labor market policy look like for Skåne and other parts of the country? Are they the same proposals that will be run over and over again?

(Applause)

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

Sofia Amloh (S)

Madam Speaker! Åsa, 55 years old, is unemployed. Her last hope is a job at Samhall, but the queue there is too long. For five years, Åsa has lacked a job. She is convinced that age plays a role: ”For every no, it becomes increasingly harder to stretch the bow.” Åsa describes the unemployment: ”You become a second-class citizen that no one wants.”

Kristina, 28 years old, is also unemployed: ”My husband received a bouquet of flowers from work to congratulate him on becoming a father. I received a notice of termination. The email arrived just a few days after the birth. It was due to a lack of work. It happened in April last year. The summer before, I had finally secured a permanent position. It was something I had strived for. I had shown my capabilities for several years as an intern and apprentice.” Kristina says that one actually does not feel like an adult when one is unemployed.

Filip, 35 years old, is also unemployed. He has been unemployed on and off for six years: ”It is depressing. Sometimes it feels like the light inside me is about to go out. Now we are starting to get used to the thought that we will never be able to start a family. I am slowly wasting away.”

This is the description of many thousands of unemployed people who want nothing else but to have a job. They truly describe a terrible situation – what unemployment does to us human beings. This is not an individual's problem. It is a collective problem. In this case, it is a collective failure when we have this sky-high unemployment.

Madam Speaker! Two years ago, I stood on a Friday evening in a community center in Skärholmen. It was packed to the rafters with women – women of all ages with solid educations from all corners of the world. All of them had learned Swedish quickly, one in a shorter time than the other. All of them wanted nothing more than to get a job. They had done everything they could think of, everything that was within their power and more. They had done more than what was required of them, but still, they had no job.

The Minister's answer to the thousands of people who want nothing more than a job is: You need to get tougher. You need to become even poorer in order to get a job.

This is nothing other than classic bourgeois politics. We saw it during the alliance government with Fredrik Reinfeldt. Unemployment rose then, just as it does now. It is the same thing.

Madam Speaker! It is three lost years. One has completely given up on unemployment. I do not believe that the government itself believes that it is possible to bring it down. I doubt that one even has such an ambition.

Sweden now needs a government that deals with unemployment, a government that wants to use all available resources to push it back, for growth, for the economy and for every person out there who deserves to have their rights upheld, to be needed and to be able to continue living their life – for Åsa, Kristina, Filip and many others who deserve to be on the Swedish labor market.

(Applause)

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

Johanna Haraldsson (S)

Madam Speaker! As several of my colleagues have already pointed out, today over half a million people in Sweden are without work. Unemployment is among the highest in Europe, and it remains stuck at a high level as long as measures are not put in place. Unemployment does not only strike the individual, against faith in the future, health, and the opportunity to support oneself. It also strikes the entire society. It threatens growth and our common welfare.

We know who find it hardest to get a job: people without a high school education, people who lack the language, and people who have no work experience. The Minister says himself that 70 percent of the unemployed belong to the group with weak competitiveness. But it is not about people who do not want to work. It is about people who lack the right tools to be able to take a job.

That is precisely why we need an active labor market policy with a breadth of measures, measures that can take people step by step closer to their own work and self-sufficiency. We know that investments in people work. This is precisely what, for example, the Fiscal Policy Council has highlighted. They want investments in vocational training, subsidized employment, and better matching.

But when we look at the government's policy, we see that is not where the emphasis lies. Instead, it is much of the same inefficient right-wing policy that we recognize. It is yet another job tax credit. I have lost count of which one it is. It is reintroduced lowered employer contributions for young people, a reform that one had previously been involved in abolishing precisely because it does not have the effect on youth unemployment that was desired. Evaluations have time and again shown that the measure is expensive and has very limited effect.

So we have the contribution ceiling, which the government presents as an important answer to unemployment. It only affects a few thousand households while over half a million people are unemployed. The solution simply does not lie there.

The government's policy, on the other hand, will lead to – as all experts say – increased child poverty. Pressuring already vulnerable families harder does not result in more employers hiring.

At the same time, the government has reduced the resources to Arbetsförmedlingen and to active measures. Support has been reduced for those who are furthest away from the labor market. Fewer people get access to the support they need to enter employment despite the fact that unemployment is sky-high.

Now the allowance is also deteriorating. The steeper tapering that the government is now introducing particularly affects those with lower incomes without more people coming into work due to the sharper tapering.

The Minister speaks about the importance of investing in education. And that is true, but the truth is that the Tidö government is not investing more in education than we Social Democrats did in government. They have still not managed to reach the same level in the number of educational places. Fewer people participate in education today than was the case three years ago.

If the government is now serious about breaking unemployment and creating more jobs, why does it choose to spend billions on tax cuts? Why does it spend time and energy on a benefit reform that risks increasing child poverty instead of expanding active labor market policies, something we actually have experience of working?

(Applause)

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

Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, members, for this discussion! The government's plan to break unemployment and exclusion consists, in summary, of three parts.

The first part is education that leads to jobs. We are completely pragmatic when it comes to what type of education it should be. It can be labor market training, vocational adult education (yrkesvux), or vocational higher education (yrkeshögskola). We have talked about folk high schools previously.

There are approximately 150,000 educational places today. We have made historical investments in this. Education that leads to jobs is the most important thing of all.

The second part, which cannot be avoided, is that it must pay to work. The more it pays to work compared to living on benefits and grants, the greater the incentives to work. We have a fairly simple principle: It should never pay better to live on benefits than to live on wage labor. It would be interesting to hear if any of the members or the Social Democrats as a party have a different opinion here.

The third part of the plan to crack unemployment is that we must have a very strict asylum migration for the foreseeable future. Half of all unemployed are foreign-born, and two-thirds of the long-term unemployed are foreign-born. Many of the 70 percent who have a weak connection to the labor market have it because they lack formal education, language skills, or other qualities and skills that meet the requirements that employers in both companies and public activities set.

It would be interesting to hear how the members position themselves regarding us having strict asylum migration for the foreseeable future.

Criticism is being voiced against the job tax credit. My question then is: Will the Social Democrats increase the tax for those who work? It would be interesting to hear. I have not experienced any criticism against just this part of the budget bill, but if there is such criticism and the Social Democrats in their budget motion will increase the tax for those who work, it would be an interesting announcement to receive here today.

We need to crack unemployment, exclusion, and benefit dependency. I am concerned that the left-wing parties in Sweden are turning a blind eye to how dangerous benefit dependency is. We must do everything we can so that more children see their parents go to a job in the morning. The great cost of benefit dependency, unemployment, and exclusion is not borne by the state and the municipalities, but by the children and families who live in the situation that it means to not have money and not be in demand.

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

Jonathan Svensson (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.

Today, we are a number of Social Democratic members who have chosen to interpellate the Minister for Employment because we are concerned about the fact that half a million people in our country lack a job to go to.

The Minister spends approximately half of the time he has to answer our questions saying that it should pay to work. Yes, we agree that it should pay to work. But the Minister also spends half of his time describing how it does not pay to work and paints a picture of that half a million people collecting a lot of benefits that are higher than a wage.

But that is not the reality. The benefit reform the government is proposing affects an extremely small group in our society, and today's discussion concerns half a million people. These are people who have been unemployed for many years, perhaps because they lack language skills and competence. But it is also construction workers and newly graduated academics, and I do not believe that the newly graduated academics live on benefits that are higher than what the wage for a job would have been. We must be clear about this. We do not have half a million unemployed people who collect more in benefits than they would have had in wages.

(Applause)

Madam Speaker! Another measure the Minister chose to highlight in his opening response was this year's investment of 250 million on summer and extra jobs for youth in municipalities with high unemployment. It was a well-intentioned and positive initiative that gave young people the opportunity to try working during the summer. It hopefully contributed to good employment for many during the summer. What the Minister does not say in his response is that this has already been completed. The money was spent this year. But I swear to you, the summer is now over and these jobs are gone.

Yesterday, the government's budget bill landed on the Riksdag's table. I will honestly admit that I have not read all parts of it, but as far as I can tell, there are no 250 million in it for investments in summer and extra jobs for young people. It is therefore uncertain whether the summer initiative continues next year. We may see that further ahead. But since the Minister speaks so warmly about this initiative, I ask myself why it is not included in the budget bill – if it is indeed a good effort for young people to gain work experience.

Let us remember that the budget the government laid on the floor of the Riksdag yesterday is record-breaking. The reform space is 80 billion, according to the Finance Minister's and the government's assessment. We can put it a bit in proportion: 250 million on summer jobs for young people versus 80 billion in reform space. There is a quite large difference between these sums.

Why is this initiative not included in the government's budget? Is it possible that the absolute largest piece of the cake has been spent on lowering taxes? One can make that prioritization if one wishes; it is obviously permitted.

Let me ask a question to the Minister for Employment: How is it that the government, in the budget bill that landed on the Riksdag's table yesterday, chooses to prioritize away money that already exists for young people's summer and extra jobs?

(Applause)

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

Serkan Köse (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer, even though half of the time was used to attack the Social Democrats and ask questions to us. But it is we who are here to ask questions to the Minister and get answers regarding the mass unemployment we have in our country. That should concern the Minister more than a discussion on strict migration and asylum policy, for on that point we are in agreement.

I would still like to ask a question about labor migration: Does the Minister still think that we should not have a labor market assessment when it comes to labor migration? Everything indicates that labor migration affects both jobs and conditions on the Swedish labor market. The Minister can answer this in his next contribution.

The Minister also points to the resources for the labor market policy: 100 million to Arbetsförmedlingen. The union ST thinks it is good that Arbetsförmedlingen receives more money, and I think so too. But it does not meet the resource needs, and Arbetsförmedlingen requires more money in order to fulfill its mandate. The money will not be enough to handle half a million unemployed and a growing youth unemployment. Furthermore, we have 130,000 young people who do not exist in any system.

The Minister was talking about educational initiatives, but what the Minister says is not correct. First, it was minus 1 billion. Then the government has injected money along the way and topped up, but it is still not at the same level as when we were in power. As I mentioned earlier, there are 4,000 fewer places in general courses at the folk high schools since 2022. It is also not true that one has invested in folk high schools, adult education, or komvux. I also mentioned that the Research Council has warned against these cuts within adult education.

Madam Speaker! In these types of crises, a proactive government is required. But from the Ministry of Employment, we meet silence, and as I mentioned earlier, we have an empty list of bills. This autumn, we will receive nothing from the government. Not until next year will we receive two letters and one EU directive on wage transparency.

Is the government satisfied that it looks like this, that we will not receive any propositions, reforms, or proposals from the government this autumn and next year two letters of request and one implementation of an EU directive on pay transparency? Is the government satisfied with this when half a million are unemployed and we have a youth unemployment of 20 percent? Furthermore, bankruptcies are increasing, not least within the construction sector. Thousands of construction workers are unemployed. This is tearing society apart. Young people's dreams are not met with measures and efforts from the government. Every fifth youth in the country lacks a job, and hundreds of thousands of people are underemployed.

In the midst of all this, the security of people is also being worsened. From October 1, the housing allowance is being tightened. After 100 days, the person who has lost their job will have to manage on even less. This means that thousands of people enter the winter and the new year with eroded finances and greater anxiety, and families with children are forced to turn over every krona. The government calls this the work principle, but for those who are already without a job, it is just a harder kick downwards.

Again: We have mass unemployment, every fifth young person is unemployed and there are 130,000 young people who neither work nor study. What does the Minister intend to do in the short term?

(Applause)

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

Adrian Magnusson (S)

Madam Speaker! Both the Minister for Employment and other bourgeois ministers sometimes talk about strengthening the work line. That has been talked about since the government took office in 2022. Since then, as we have heard several times here today, 100,000 more people have become unemployed. One can ask how it is going with strengthening the work line. 100,000 more unemployed are as many people as live in the city of Lund – quite many – so it is going so-so.

That is why the Minister for Employment's question time, which he had here earlier, becomes a bit strange. He tries to construct a conflict: that Social Democracy stands for some kind of benefit line and that the government stands for some kind of work line, despite there being more benefit-dependent people today than in 2022, despite unemployment being higher today than in 2022, and despite there being an entire Lund more unemployed today than in 2022. I would almost like to claim that it becomes a bit comical.

I want to take an example from reality. Today, there is a large article in Ystads Allehanda about a young girl named Anna Freij who is 21 years old. She has applied for 50 different jobs but has not been called to a single interview – not a single one! She has applied for work within a number of different industries, she says in the article, but she has not received a single job. If she is called for an interview, it is with an AI robot, or else she has to record videos of herself or do IQ tests and such things. It shows how difficult it is for many people, not least young people, to get jobs in this country.

In the budget bill, the government speaks of how Arbetsförmedlingen's accessibility, support, and service play a major role in this context, when it comes to matching in the labor market. I asked in the interpellation and in my previous post if there can be concrete regional reforms for the labor market and if Arbetsförmedlingen, for example, can become more present in the municipalities where we see higher unemployment. Based on the government's budget bill, it seems to be so, but I have not seen any examples of it.

I think that in the development of Arbetsförmedlingen, we see more digitalization and absence of the state rather than more presence. We also see, for example when it concerns Statens servicecenter, how the state is retreating more and more. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get in contact with the state and get help to seek work.

If one wants to crack structural unemployment, which the government claims it wants to do, one must also be prepared to do things that make it easier for people to get work. Now, instead, the state is backing away from, for example, Landskrona, where the Statens servicecenter is closing down. This is happening in one of the municipalities in Sweden with the highest unemployment, which will make it even harder for people to get work in Landskrona and in that part of Skåne. I am completely convinced of that.

I think the charade that is currently taking place is very strange. We have a government that tries to talk as if it were some kind of "working-line" government, but in reality, all parameters are moving in the opposite direction from what should be a working line.

I think it is time to let go of the flashy slogans and the pamphlets and not act as if it were 2008. It is time to look at how the situation is in Sweden today, how we are to solve it and how we are to truly reduce unemployment instead of living on in a political reality that has not existed in this country for 15, 16, 17, 18 or perhaps even 20 years.

(Applause)

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Sofia Amloh (S)

Madam Speaker! I have not quite heard it yet, but we may perhaps hear it even from the Minister for Employment today – that which we heard all day yesterday from the Minister for Finance and which one uses to shift the blame: A large part of the explanation for the high unemployment we have is the world around us we live in and what has happened on the other side of the Atlantic with Trump.

We absolutely agree that it is an extremely special situation with the restless world around us, but one cannot simply shrug it off, look at it, say that one is following the issue, shrug one's shoulders and then just say that's how it is now. One needs to adapt one's policy and create an active labor market policy, as the world around us and the specific situation demand. Measures are also needed for this to happen. Other countries obviously have. In large part, all other European countries live in the exact same world around them as Sweden, but they have many times succeeded much better than we have with unemployment.

My question to the Minister is: Why are there more unemployed people with your policy? Do you intend to continue with that policy and ensure that more people become unemployed? As we have heard, there are now 100,000 more. Does the Minister think the path taken is the right one? Why is Sweden so poor in comparison with other European countries if it is only the outside world that is wrong?

In conclusion, I want to return to the Minister's answer regarding what we have described – the thousands of examples: that it should pay to work. It is unreasonable.

(Applause)

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Johanna Haraldsson (S)

Madam Speaker! The Minister seems to believe that the government's policy will get more people into work, but reality speaks against him. Since the Tidö government took office, 100,000 more have become unemployed. There are several examples of which cities this could correspond to, including Jönköping, a place I live near. It is as if everyone in Jönköping has become unemployed since the Tidö government took office.

Despite the earned income tax credit, unemployment is increasing. What the government is now presenting as solutions to unemployment is yet another earned income tax credit, lowered employer contributions for young people, a benefit ceiling, and a worse unemployment insurance.

The tax cuts go to those who already have a job. The reduced employer contributions have been tested before and have been shown to have very little effect. The contribution ceiling will only drive more families with children deeper into poverty. A worsened allowance hits those with the lowest wages the hardest, without them getting into jobs any faster for that reason.

None of this creates new jobs for those who today stand without work – half a million people. The Tidö government prioritizes lowered taxes for high-income earners over investments in people who are without jobs. The labor market policy has been cut. The measures have become fewer. The support for those who need it most has been weakened. The government's talk about education echoes hollowly. It is not strange that unemployment has become entrenched.

We know that unemployment is rarely about a lack of will. On the contrary, the vast majority of those without jobs want a job, but they lack the right education, language skills, and work experience to be able to compete for the available jobs. In that case, support, education, and interventions are needed, not poverty as a whip.

The government actively chooses to increase the gaps instead of fighting unemployment. It is not a policy for more jobs, but it is class politics that makes poor families poorer without breaking unemployment.

(Applause)

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Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)

Madam Speaker! I thank you for all the members' inputs and views.

It is true as Sofia Amloh says that the outside world affects us strongly. When Donald Trump took office as president in the White House in January, an uncertainty arose in the world economy that affects Sweden to the highest degree. We are more dependent on the outside world than many other countries in our vicinity and in Europe.

I find it a bit difficult to understand where the dividing lines are here. I tried to clarify some of the dividing lines. We seem to be in agreement that there should be strict asylum migration for the foreseeable future. That is good; then we have settled that question. There are a number of other questions in the air that I would probably like to return to. But the fact that we are making historical investments in education and that this year there are approximately 150,000 education places in the areas I mentioned – labor market training, vocational adult education, universities of applied sciences and such – is because we aim for it to be education that provides jobs. That will always be the main answer. Knowledge is what builds Sweden strong. Education is what builds Sweden strong in the long term but also in the short term, and for people who end up in a situation of unemployment, education can be what is required for them to be able to match into the labor market but also what makes them have a meaningful everyday life during a period.

We make it easier to run businesses. We make it cheaper to hire. We invest in education. We make it more profitable to work. There is a very strong focus here on the job tax credit, but the question still hangs in the air: Are the Social Democrats against it? Will the Social Democrats raise the tax for those who work in their budget motion? It will arrive in about two weeks. That would be an interesting announcement.

It is companies and the public sector that hire, and we need to facilitate for them. Criticism was voiced here regarding the measure with reduced employer contributions for young people. It is strange, I think, that the Social Democrats criticize it – unless it is the case that in about two weeks you will want to withdraw that measure and make it more expensive to hire young people. If one believes that it leads to more jobs for young people, one can do it. I do not believe it.

We agree on an enormous amount. Member Adrian Magnusson described it as some kind of charade, but that is what I cannot reconcile. We agree on education. We agree that it should pay to work, but you are against the job tax credit. How it is with the benefit ceiling remains to be seen. We agree on strict asylum migration. But it is those issues that we do not agree on that are interesting to discuss.

What will happen with the tax on labor? What will happen with the contribution ceiling? It would be interesting to receive an answer on those questions.

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Jonathan Svensson (S)

Madam Speaker! It feels as though the Minister is a bit disappointed that we Social Democrats are not answering his questions. Let me then state that it stands in Sweden's constitution that the government governs the realm and that it is the Riksdag's task to scrutinize the government. It is not the government that is to demand answers from the Riksdag on our societal problems. I still think it should be clear in this debate.

The Minister also mentioned in response to one of my colleagues' speeches that the outside world affects us. It obviously does. Since Donald Trump took office as president, it has been very shaky in the outside world. But it should nevertheless be recorded in the minutes that Sweden is doing significantly worse than comparable countries in Europe. Sweden's market is very competitive, absolutely, but it is not significantly more competitive than the Danish, the British, the French, the Norwegian, and so on. The list can be long.

I think it is sad that we do not get answers to more of our questions, because we all know someone – we all have a sibling, a daughter or a friend – who does not have a job to go to. It is a development that will cost society something unimaginable and that we must reverse. But while we see a situation on the labor market with record warnings and rising unemployment, the government instead leaves walkover on labor market policy when it neither provides sufficient funds nor produces any actual propositions from the Ministry of Employment.

Madam Speaker! With a different political direction in Sweden, reality could have looked completely different. Therefore, I want to ask the Minister for Employment: When will the government wake up, realize the crisis in the Swedish labor market, and actually produce proposals to solve that crisis?

(Applause)

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Serkan Köse (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer to at least some of our questions!

We have not received answers to all of our questions. But, Madam Speaker, we can well state that after three years with the SD government, the result is very clear. We have 100,000 more unemployed now than in 2022. We have poorer households. We have a growth in EU's bottom line, and we have a growing deficit. Yesterday, a resignation budget was presented that patches and repairs but does not tackle the major societal problems that we have in our country, and from October 1st, the welfare and security for thousands and thousands more wage earners in this country will deteriorate.

The Minister cannot flee the responsibility, and he cannot shift his responsibility onto the opposition. We are here to scrutinize the government's policy. We are here to place demands on the government. We are here and expect that the Minister can answer our questions. It is not just us, but thousands and thousands of people – young, unemployed – who are waiting for an answer.

The list of propositions is empty. When we look at the budget, we see that the government is cutting costs for labor market policy programs and measures. Previously, the Minister stated that they are investing in education and mentioned, among other things, labor market training. My question then is: How much is the government investing in labor market training? In the budget, we can read that they are actually cutting resources for active labor market policy.

The 100 million for Arbetsförmedlingen is considered very little by the trade union ST. More is expected given the social mission it has. If one is to be able to deliver, resources are needed. If one is to manage to help people with disabilities, resources are needed. If one is to ensure that young people get into the labor market, educational measures are required. The government has cut, cut, and cut all of this over these three years. So my question to the Minister is: When does the Minister intend to act?

(Applause)

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Adrian Magnusson (S)

Madam Speaker! I understand that the Minister for Employment wants very much to talk about tax policy here today. I have no problem doing that.

The government is going to, for example, lower the tax for venture capitalists by 600 million kronor. Next year, they are going to do that. Then it will cost 300 million kronor every year. Those are funds that could have done more good if they had gone to active labor market policy.

If we are to talk about the job tax credit: The government chose to abolish the previous tapering of the job tax credit for the very highest incomes. It costs the state treasury almost 5 billion kronor every year, so what the government has done is that they have lowered the tax for the very richest. That has been the prioritization.

Instead, the Minister for Employment is trying to give the impression that more money has been allocated to education for the labor market. But as Member Haraldsson explained, those funds are at the same level as in 2022. It is not the case that there is more money today, despite the fact that we have 100,000 more unemployed and a youth unemployment rate of 25 percent.

We simply have an unemployment that has accelerated during the Kristersson government. Despite that, Prime Minister Kristersson could not speak a single word about unemployment during his government statement, which lasted 47 minutes. Not even once could he mention the word unemployment, which is remarkable.

I still intend to quote the Prime Minister before I go and sit down again. In the 2022 election campaign, there were election posters with Ulf Kristersson on them that said: "Europe's fourth highest unemployment should make the government unemployed." So said Ulf Kristersson in the 2022 election campaign. Now unemployment is higher, and we are worse off in the EU, so I can only agree with the Prime Minister: This high unemployment should make the government unemployed.

(Applause)

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Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)

Madam Speaker! I shall touch upon some of the questions that have been asked. I believe, as I said, that we agree that unemployment is not good. We are against unemployment, and we are against people living on benefits.

We seem to have somewhat different methods regarding how we should solve these problems. For us, it is about education, incentives, and a strict asylum migration. We seem to agree on some part of this, but not all.

When it comes to the unemployment benefit, we have restructured it. It is now income-based. What does that mean? Well, it means simpler rules for companies and simpler handling for those who become unemployed. It also means that more people are covered. See there – that is a good thing!

We have raised the ceilings, so one gets more in the accounts now than one received previously. That is also a good thing. We have also made it more of a transition insurance. The phase-out is now clearer and somewhat faster than it has been previously. That is also a good thing, we think. Everyone in this chamber may not agree with that.

When it comes to Skåne, it is a region that has the highest unemployment in Sweden, but I still want to point out that the labor market policy is national. It is Arbetsförmedlingen that is responsible for how the resources for interventions are distributed regionally and locally based on the government's goals and direction for the labor market policy – which I perceive that we also largely agree on.

There is certainly more to do regarding the management of Arbetsförmedlingen. We have touched upon this previously. I am in no way unfamiliar with this.

Finally, it concerns labor market training. Arbetsförmedlingen has the financial capacity to provide interventions within labor market training to more people than today. This applies both within and outside the framework programs, and it applies to labor market training, work placements, as well as special interventions for persons with disabilities.

We also propose in the budget bill an investment of 30 million to further expand labor market training within healthcare. We have nothing against labor market training. There are resources.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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