Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2009, publiée 99ème session CIT (2010)

Convention (n° 122) sur la politique de l'emploi, 1964 - Suède (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period ending in June 2008 including replies provided to the 2007 direct request. It further notes the observations submitted by the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (SACO), the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO), which were forwarded to the Government in December 2008.

Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Convention. Active labour market policies. Consultation with the social partners. The Government recalls in its report that after a period of substantial economic growth, the international economy has been increasingly characterized by a turbulent financial market. In its autumn 2008 Budget Bill, the Government underlined the importance of conducting a responsible policy to cushion the negative effects expected in the wake of financial worries. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) figures, in 2007 the employment rate of the population aged between 16 and 64 stood at 75.7 per cent, an increase by 1.2 percentage points – equivalent to 111,000 persons – as compared to 2006. Similarly, the participation rates increased from 70.8 per cent in 2006 to 71.1 per cent in 2007, cumulating in a total of 4,892,000 persons in the first half of 2008. The Government reports that at the same time, the number of persons in social exclusion fell by 121,000. It states that this was the largest reduction in 40 years and had favourable effects on persons that, inter alia, had been unemployed, on sick leave and on subsistence allowance. It further indicates that the “Activity guarantee” was discontinued, labour market policy programmes had been sharply reduced and that the remaining programmes had been restructured. As part of the new policy programme, a new public employment service was created. This was aimed at improving opportunities for control and enhancing operational efficiency and focused especially on those who traditionally had most difficulties to enter into, or return to the labour market. The SACO saw some of the measures taken as counterproductive and questioned the competence of the public employment service for providing qualified services for skilled jobseekers. The Committee further notes that the new labour market policy allowed for fixed-term contracts and that the reduction of the income tax was an incentive to hire new employees. The policy further included an adjustment of the Swedish education system to meet the demand of the labour market. An additional part of this policy was a reform of the unemployment system through a raise of premiums, the reduction of benefits and the raise of the threshold for entering into the insurance system. The LO and the TCO criticized the Government of “making it more worthwhile to work” as having mainly been put in practice through the Government’s reductions of spending in the welfare system. While the Government’s strategy has been to reduce income taxes for those who are working, persons who do not work, such as pensioners and students, have not benefited from cuts in the income taxes. In addition, the LO and the TCO observed that making it easier and less costly to take on new employees was a strategy directed to employers, not to employees. The Committee refers to Article 1(1), which requires stimulating economic growth through active labour market policies. The Committee hopes that in its next report, the Government will outline how the difficulties that have been encountered in attaining the objectives of the Convention have been overcome. It further requests the Government to reflect in detail in its report how the views expressed by the social partners have been taken into account in formulating and enlisting support for the policies undertaken.

Youth, long-term unemployed, immigrants and workers with disabilities. The Government reports that despite the overall downward trend of unemployment rates, youth unemployment showed a slight increase and unemployment among foreign-born persons remained twice as high (11.9 per cent) as among persons born in Sweden. Employment of persons with disabilities is also significantly lower than in the rest of the population: only 50 per cent among women and 54 per cent among men of this group are employed. The new policy measures targeting these groups – such as the “New Start Jobs” programme aiming at the youth, the “Step-in Jobs” focusing on asylum seekers with residence permits, the “Job and development guarantee”, directed toward the long-term unemployed and the 2007 Spring Fiscal Bill appropriating incentives to hire workers with disabilities – have brought some improvements. The Committee notes that nearly 40,000 young persons, aged 16–24, and 34,000 persons born outside of Sweden benefited from the increase of employment in 2007. Furthermore, 18,000 workers between 55–74 years found employment in the reporting period. The TCO and the LO saw the reform of the unemployment benefits system as detrimental principally for young workers and for women, as these groups dominated the low-skilled labour market with its high fluctuation rate and temporary nature. The SACO further notes that the employment situation of immigrants still gave reason for concern. The Committee asks the Government to continue providing detailed information in its next report on the efforts made to improve the employment situation of youth, long-term unemployed, immigrant and workers with disabilities and how possible detrimental effects of the aforementioned measures observed by the workers’ organizations are remedied.

Women. The Government reports that since 2006, employment has increased more rapidly among women than among men, yet also states that unemployment has declined more steeply for men than for women. While the overall labour force participation rate increased in 2007, the labour force participation rates for women as compared to men were 68.3 versus 73.9 per cent. The Government reported that it had expanded the “New Start Jobs” programme to better cater for women’s needs, which led to a 50 per cent participation rate in the public sector. However, the increase was slower in the private sector and stood at 36 per cent at the end of June 2008. The TCO and the LO observed that the Government did not sufficiently consider the specific needs of female workers, since in addition to the general detrimental aspects of the unemployment insurance system, this group was particularly affected by the exemption of parental leave. The Committee asks the Government to continue providing information on the results achieved as a result of the measures adopted to promote female employment, particularly in regard to the “New Start Jobs” programme.