Labour market

When Prime Minister Stefan Löfven meets his colleagues in Brussels on 21–22 March, Brexit will dominate the meeting’s first day. The EU heads of state and government will also address the EU’s long-term climate strategy and discuss jobs, growth and competitiveness.

On 22 January, the ILO’s centenary was launched in Geneva. The centenary, which will run throughout 2019, focuses on the future of work and forms part of the ILO’s long-term strategy for creating a decent and sustainable working life worldwide.

Minister for Employment and Integration Ylva Johansson will take part in the signing ceremony in Madrid when Spain joins the Global Deal. This makes Spain the 100th partner, and the 20th government, to join the global partnership.

On 9 November 2018, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven met Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), to hand over the Global Deal initiative.

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.

Supplying skills to the labour market, and to society at large, has been a recurring issue since the Government’s National Innovation Council started meeting in 2015. When the Council met on 28 May at Harpsund, the meeting opened with the issue of lifelong learning in the workplace.

The Government has decided to present the Government Bill "Contractor liability for wage claims in the construction industry" to the Riksdag. The aim is to strengthen protection for employees and counter corner-cutting and criminal activities, while safeguarding the opportunities for the social partners to regulate contractor liability in collective agreements.

As head of the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the European Union, Lars Danielsson represents the Government on a range of important EU issues in Brussels. This work offers him an insight into the EU’s political dynamics shared by few others.

The Government and the social partners have agreed that ‘entry agreements’ should be introduced. The aim is to help newly arrived immigrants and long-term unemployed people to become established in the labour market, and to facilitate future skills provision for employers.

A necessary and valuable debate on the future has started in the EU. Although much works well at EU level, there is reason for soul-searching. The more people who are involved in the discussions on the future of Europe, the better the prospects of strengthening our citizens’ trust in the European project.