Labour market

In the autumn budget, the Government is investing in an active labour market policy for increased employment, strengthened skills supply in elderly care in particular, and improved unemployment insurance for part-time unemployed people. The Government is also intensifying efforts to better enable new arrivals to quickly become established in working and community life. More investments will be made in early measures for asylum seekers and increased resources for the introduction system. The Government also intends to introduce a new compensation system for the reception of unaccompanied minors and young people. The Budget Bill for 2017 is based on an agreement between the Government and the Left Party.

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven today received Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven today received Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Guy Ryder.

Opinion piece in Dagens industri, 22 August 2016 More and more criticism of globalisation and free trade is being voiced around the world. The solution is to be part of development and to offer a strong safety net and an active labour market policy, writes Minister for EU Affairs and Trade Ann Linde.

The Government is launching five innovation partnership programmes to help meet a range of the societal challenges that Sweden is facing. These programmes involve new ways of travelling, residing, doing business, living, communicating, and using and preserving the world’s resources and ecosystems. Partnership between public actors, business and academia creates new, innovative solutions that strengthen competitiveness, contribute to sustainable development and create more jobs.

Today, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven received Latvia's Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis for talks. Much of their time was dedicated to current issues on the EU agenda, not least the imminent referendum in the UK, fair conditions in the labour market and proposals for joint EU solutions in the migration area.

On 13 June, Minister for Employment and Integration Ylva Johansson will visit Paris. During the visit, Ms Johansson will meet her colleague, Minister of Labour, Employment, Vocational Training and Social Dialogue Myriam El Khomri, for discussions on such topics as fair conditions in the labour market.

The Government wants newly arrived immigrants in Sweden to quickly find a workplace that is relevant to the individual’s education and experience. At the same time, there is a shortage of labour in many industries; these are now being helped with the provision of skills through the creation of fast tracks by the Swedish Public Employment Service and the industries, to make it easier for newly arrived immigrants to establish themselves in the labour market.

On 19–20 May, Minister for Employment Ylva Johansson will take part in an informal ministerial meeting in Vienna on fair and decent conditions in the labour market. The meeting is a follow-up of the ministerial meeting Ms Johansson hosted in Stockholm in September 2015 on fair and decent working conditions in the EU internal market.

Brussels, 25 June 2015 Check against delivery.

In an increasingly globalised labour market, a Global Deal between the social partners can benefit everyone. This was the message when Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet together hosted a seminar on the Global Deal in Stockholm on 11 May.

Today, the OECD presented its report Working Together: Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children in Sweden on integration in the Swedish labour market and in Swedish society. The report shows that Sweden has a highly developed and sustainable policy for reception and introduction, but that the large number of asylum seekers who arrived in 2015 has created new challenges.

At a press conference on Friday 13 May at Rosenbad, the OECD will present its report on integration in the Swedish labour market, Working Together: Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children in Sweden. Minister for Employment Ylva Johansson will comment on the OECD report’s assessment and recommendations. Stefano Scarpetta, Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs at the OECD, will also take part in the press conference.

On 8 May, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven received Austria’s Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann and Germany’s Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel for talks on current European issues.

In the spring amending budget for 2016, the Government is strengthening efforts to enable newly arrived immigrants to quickly and efficiently establish themselves in Sweden. The Government is investing in early measures for asylum seekers and increased funds for county administrative boards to create preparedness and reception capacity in municipalities. The Government is also announcing that trainee jobs will be expanded to also cover newly arrived immigrants and people who are long-term unemployed. The spring amending budget for 2016 is based on an agreement between the Government and the Left Party.

An Inquiry will conduct a review of the rules for parental leave and parental insurance. The purpose is to identify problems and propose measures so that parental insurance can contribute to a greater extent to gender equality in the labour market and gender-equal parenting and can keep contributing to good conditions for children to grow up in.

Youth unemployment is a high-priority issue for the Government. As a part of work on the European Employment Strategy, Minister for Employment Ylva Johansson initiated a high-level meeting in Stockholm to discuss young people’s situation in the labour market. On 18-19 February five European ministers responsible for labour market issues met for a High Level Learning Exchange on ‘Designing and implementing effective strategies to support the integration and retention in the labour market of youth at risk’.

Minister for Employment Ylva Johansson has invited a number of European Union ministerial colleagues to a high-level meeting in Stockholm on 18-19 February to discuss young people’s situation in the labour market.

On 10–14 January, Minister for Employment Ylva Johansson will visit Canberra and Sydney. The purpose of the visit is to study the structure and functioning of the Australian labour market, with a focus on employment services.

About the Ministry of Employment, published May 2017.