Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Sweden (Ratification: 1965)

1. The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s detailed report for the period ending in October 2006, as well as the Swedish Reform Programme for Growth and Employment 2005–08, attached.

2. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Labour market policies. The Government reports that the employment rate continued to rise with 73.9 per cent of the population aged between 16 and 64 in employment. Between June and August 2006, nearly 100,000 more persons were employed than in the corresponding period in 2005. Casual employees accounted for more than 70 per cent of the upturn in employment. New job vacancies registered with the Public Employment Service continued to rise; nearly 323,000 new job vacancies were registered during the first half of 2006, the highest number since the beginning of the 1990s. The Government indicates that participation in the “Activity guarantee” continued to rise, with 45,106 participants by the end of 2005. A nationwide survey was undertaken in October 2005 as part of the process of review and quality assurance of the “Activity guarantee”. The main findings were that a large majority of participants were satisfied with the scheme and that it was viewed in a better light than a few years ago. Hiring support, training and other jobseeker courses were judged to be useful. The survey also indicated that there was a need for more individualized initiatives to improve the satisfaction rate of participants and that many of the activities did not meet the requirements of full-time activity. The Committee asks the Government to supply in its next report information on measures taken in response to the results of the 2005 survey as well as data on the impact of the “Activity guarantee” has had in assisting persons in bridging the gap between the unemployment benefit and labour market. Please also include information on the manner in which the measures adopted for the promotion of employment lie within the framework of a “coordinated economic and social policy” (Article 2(a) of the Convention).

3. Long-term unemployed, immigrant workers and youth. Under the “Activity guarantee”, folk high schools have provided training programmes for the long-term unemployed to equip them with the basic skills needed in order to start vocational studies or return to work. Approximately 8,400 persons participated in the programmes in 2005. An experimental scheme of Workplace Introduction for Newly Arrived Immigrants (SIN) has been operating since 2003. A total of 10,616 persons participated in the experimental scheme of workplace introduction for SIN between November 2003 and August 2006. Of these, 6,351 entered employment, while 970 persons went on to training or labour market policy programmes other than hiring help. Under the “Youth guarantee” and Municipal Youth Work Experience (KUP), individual action plans are to be drawn up for each participant, no more than two weeks after the jobseeker registers with the Employment Service. As from 1 February 2005, the “Youth guarantee” also included a period of counselling and jobseeker activities under the Employment Service auspices. There were a total of 22,713 participants in the KUP in 2005 and more than 29,000 participated in the “Youth guarantee” during the same period. The proportion of those employed 90 days after completing either one or the other of the programmes was up 36 per cent in 2005. The Committee would welcome receiving in the Government’s next report information on the measures adopted to promote the employment of vulnerable categories of workers, such as the long-term unemployed, immigrant workers, young persons and workers with disabilities, and on the results achieved in terms of lasting integration into the labour market (Article 1, paragraph 2).