Presentation by Anders Forslund, Assistant Director-General, Professor, (Authority for Research on Labour market issues) on the occasion of the EESC conference on A labour market for all: efficient and innovative assistance to jobseekers, in Stockholm, Sweden

1. The Swedish model for providing aid to job
seekers
Anders Forslund
IFAU and Uppsala University
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2. Providing aid to job seekers – the institutions
• Collective agreements between social partners
provide aid (counselling, training etc.) when
employees receive advance notification of lay-offs
• Public employment service (PES) provides
unemployed job seekers with job search assistance
and active labour market programmes (ALMPs)
• Unemployment insurance, complemented by
collective agreements, provide (some) unemployed
job seekers with financial aid
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3. Collective agreements – notified workers
• Collective ”security” agreements cover white- and
blue-collar workers in private sector and central and
local government employees
• Basic principle: offer aid already before start of
unemployment spell; aid given by specialized
agencies funded by the social partners through
agreements
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4. Unemployed workers: Public employment
service (PES)
Swedish PES has a number of functions:
• Offer coaching and job search assistance; monitoring
search behviour
• Offer vocational training programmes, job practice
programmes and subsidised employment
• Collect and make available information on vacant
jobs and job seekers
• Recently, rapid increase in private provision; PES
buyer of services (coaching etc.)
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5. Registration
Job ready?
No Yes
Which programme? Job search assistance?
No Yes
Training Practice; Job search Coaching
Wage subsidy
Follow up
Job No Job
De-registration
PES process

6. But also…
• Young unemployed (< 25 yrs): after approx. 3
months ”Job guarantee for young”. Compulsory
programme with job search assistance (phase 1) and
(possibly) other programmes (phase 2)
• Older unemployed (>24 yrs): after approx. 14
months ”Job and development guarantee”.
Compulsory programme with job search assistance
(phase 1), (possibly) other programmes (phase 2) and
”socially beneficial work” (phase 3)
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7. Unemployment and programme participation
(excl. subsidised employment) 1996–2010
450,000
400,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
Unemployed
200,000 Programmes
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
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8. Evaluations of Swedish ALMPs
Some major conclusions:
• The closer a programme is to regular
employment, the better for the participant
• The closer a programme is to regular
employment, the more severe are crowding out
problems; targeting necessary
• Results vary a lot
• Job search assistance/monitoring generally found to
be effective
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9. Unemployment insurance (1)
• Rules for UI are regulated by law and UI system
predominantly tax financed
• Insurance run by around 30 independent
organisations, UI funds, most of which have close
ties to trade unions
• Membership, necessary for income related
benefits, voluntary. Until recently, membership close
to 90 % of the labour force; membership declined
rapidly after recent reforms with much higher
membership fees
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10. Unemployment insurance (2)
• For income-related benefits: UI fund membership for
at least 12 months and in addition a work
requirement
• Furthermore, the unemployed must be job
ready, actively looking for a job and prepared to
accept a suitable job offer
• Job search behaviour monitored by case workers at
the PES and violations may lead to sanctions
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11. Unemployment insurance (3)
• UI fund non-members who meet work and job search
requirements, entitled to fixed daily benefit;
substantially lower than maximum income-related
benefit; otherwise social assistance
• Benefit eligibility 300 benefit days (420 calendar
days; benefits paid five days a week)
• Replacement rate 80 % first 200 benefit days; 70 %
until day 300. After this, 65 % of previous income
conditional on entering Job and development
guarantee
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12. Unemployment insurance (4)
• System is, however, much less generous for most
unemployed: maximum daily benefit fairly low
• Also number of supplementary insurance
programmes through collective agreements between
social partners
• Information on these agreements scattered, hence
knowledge about the exact conditions for
unemployed persons limited
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