Ministry of Employment investments in the 2018 spring budget

Everyone who can work should work. More people need to learn Swedish faster and more people who need an education to find work should take the initiative to study. In its 2018 spring amending budget, the Government is therefore investing in strengthening paths to work for more people. The Government is also providing more resources for preventive efforts against sexual harassment in working life, regional safety representatives and summer jobs for more young people.

More extra jobs

More and more people are being given the opportunity to work via extra jobs in the welfare sector. In the 2018 spring amending budget, the Government proposed increased resources for additional extra jobs. Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish public employment service) has therefore been allocated an additional SEK 400 million. The proposal to increase funding for extra jobs and the previously announced investment in summer jobs for young people (SEK 100 million) will be financed by reducing the appropriation for new start jobs by SEK 495 million.

Parental leave initiatives

Several municipalities currently offer adapted solutions so that people on parental leave can participate in programmes to learn Swedish, such as language training in connection with open preschools. To promote this type of initiative, the Government is increasing its investment from the autumn budget and is now proposing the allocation of an additional SEK 15 million in 2018.

Collaboration to encourage more people to study – assignment to Arbetsförmedlingen and the Swedish National Agency for Education

The Government will task Arbetsförmedlingen and the Swedish Agency for Education with promoting collaboration, for instance between Arbetsförmedlingen and the municipalities, to encourage more unemployed people to transition to studies in municipal adult education etc. A total of SEK 15 million has been allocated for this, divided equally between the agencies (SEK 7.5 million each).

Information campaign on driving licence loans

Efforts are under way to introduce the possibility of taking a loan for driving lessons for a category B driving licence for certain individuals. The Government has allocated SEK 3 million to CSN to conduct well-targeted information campaigns.

Resources to the Swedish Work Environment Authority to prevent sexual harassment

The many initiatives of the #MeToo campaign have called attention to the incidence of sexual harassment, violence and abusive treatment in several sectors and industries in society. The Government believes that additional measures are necessary to reinforce preventive and skills-enhancement efforts. The Government is therefore allocating SEK 10 million to the Swedish Work Environment Authority in 2018 for information and education initiatives supporting employers.

The Government is also allocating SEK 15 million to the central government funding for regional safety representatives in 2018. These investments mean that both employers and employees will receive better support in work environment efforts in order to prevent sexual harassment.

Summer jobs for young people

It is important that young people have the opportunity early on to gain work experience and contacts ahead of their future working life. In the 2018 spring bill, the Government has proposed that SEK 100 million be earmarked to increase opportunities for municipalities to organise summer jobs for young people. This investment focuses on young people who have completed year nine of compulsory school and years one and two of upper secondary school. The investment is expected to provide jobs for young people who would otherwise have difficulty getting a summer job on their own.

Arbetsförmedlingen will distribute the funds to municipalities on the condition that this does not affect the creation of summer jobs that were already planned. The intention is to manage this in the same way as when funds were distributed to municipalities for summer jobs in 2017.