Record unemployment and failing companies as Sweden battles crisis

“We expect that unemployment will rise to 8.4 percent and will remain high in 2025 as well,” Pehrson stressed at a press conference in Stockholm.

In June this year. 5,872 companies declared bankruptcy, 38 percent more than in the same month of 2023 and the most since 1996. In the first quarter of this year, corporate bankruptcies resulted in 14,675 people losing their jobs.

The minister considered the cause of the crisis on the labour market, in addition to the recession in the Swedish economy and uncertainty in the world. problems with the integration of immigrants and their social exclusion. IN Sweden the unemployment rate is three times higher among people born abroad (approximately 17 percent of foreigners are unemployed) than among native Swedes (over 5 percent).

“More people have to work, it is not a positive pattern when children do not see their parents go to work,” Pehrson said, adding that “welfare dependency” should be opposed.

At the same time, despite the high level of unemployment, which places Sweden in fourth place among EU countries, Spain, Greece and Finlandmany industries have problems finding employees. There are 117 thousand vacancies waiting for those looking for work.

– Not only highly qualified experts are sought, but also employees of restaurants and nursing homes – Pehrson emphasized. The shortage of workers is particularly high in northern Sweden, where the green transformation of industry is underway. – There, too, apartments and roads are being built – he added.

According to the minister, in order to combat structural unemployment, the government has allocated funds this year to finance 21,500 places on courses in vocational training schools. In Sweden, there are free Swedish language schools for foreigners, where learning can be combined with vocational training.