V.13. PITEÅ in SWEDEN: Striving to Attract Former Residents Back Home
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V.13. PITEÅ IN SWEDEN: Striving to attract former residents back home By Hjördis Rut Sigurjonsdottir, 2018/2019 Introduction lies. Combined with analyses of other data and in- Why are some municipalities better than others at formation, the interviews helped us to understand deploying their resources, attracting people and why some places do better than others. creating jobs? This was the key question studied in The municipality of Piteå is situated on the this analysis of the attractiveness of 14 rural mu- coast of Norrbotten, 40 km south of the regional nicipalities in the Nordic Region. capital Luleå, and almost 700 km north of Stock- The 14 areas selected are all defined as attrac- holm. It was formed in 1967 when the rural mu- tive in the sense that their populations and the nicipalities of Hortlax, Norrfjärden and Piteå were number of people in work have increased in re- merged with the city of Piteå, as part of the 1971 cent years. The nature of the boost to employment municipal reform, with a total area of 4 460 km² in some sectors has been identified by means of (Statistics Sweden, 2015). The largest urban area shift-share analyses to determine how much of the is the city of Piteå, which is also the municipality’s change is attributable to specifically local factors. administrative seat. Just over 23,000 inhabitants, Interviews then probed key stakeholders about or roughly 55% of the total population of 42,116 in motivation, working conditions, job creation and 2018 (Statistics Sweden, 2018), live here. Other ur- living conditions. These interviews were with public ban areas include Bergsviken (population approx. sector representatives (e.g. mayors and heads of 2,200), Rosvik (populationapprox. 1,800), Norr- planning and development), business representa- fjärden (population approx.1,500), Roknäs (popu- tives and entrepreneurs, high school students and lation approx.1,200) and Hortlax (population ap- people from the education sector, as well as fami- prox. 1,100). All of them are located within a 15 km Photo: Hjördis Rut Sigurjonsdottir nordregio report 2020:1 195 radius of Piteå city centre, together enlarging the riving in the country. Jan Johannsson, Director of functional urban area (Statistics Sweden, 2015). Piteå’s Urban Environment, says that immigrants Since 2000, the population has steadily increased, have enriched the community and that Piteå has going up from just over 40,000 to more than succeeded quite well in persuading them to stay. 42,000. This growth has exclusively been centred According to information from the municipality, around Piteå (Statistics Sweden 2019b). 79% of the 709 refugees who arrived in 2015 were Piteå rapidly demonstrates its importance as still resident in Piteå at end of November 2018 (Ta- one of two Swedish cases for the Attractiveness ble V.13.1). Project. Before the case study in late November 2018, Piteå’s labour market was given an award for Table V.13.1. Refugees in Piteå 2015–2018 the best growth in Norrbotten county during 2018. The award was based on the share of companies Year Registered Still left Rate that had both new employees and increased profit 2015 110 77 70% and turnover figures (Pitea.se, n.d.). Also, the city centre in Piteå was ranked in eighth place out of 2016 178 147 82% 62 Swedish city centres in the City Climate Index, 2017 271 201 74% which is bases on measured sales, market shares, activities and number of jobs (WSP, 2018). 2018 150 136 90% Demographic development Total 709 561 79% The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is an ongoing battle to keep the net figures positive. It is unlikely that the goal of reaching Labour market, employment and 43,000 by 2020 will be achieved, judging the trend business development in recent years. Figure V.13.1 shows the population Labour market and economic activity change from 2007 to 2016, in which there was an No single industry has clearly dominated the la- increase of 943 people. The population has contin- bour market in the municipality. Nevertheless, ued to grow, according to the latest statistics, by with industrialisation, forestry became the main an additional 212 (SCB, 2018). However, the pace economic activity in the area, and has continued of growth is perhaps slower than desirable. to be so. Paper industry company SCA, together The proportion of foreign-born residents is with the paper packaging manufacturer Smurfit relatively low in Piteå, only 6.5%, compared with Kappa, together employ around 1,000 people 19% in Sweden as a whole (SCB, 21.02.2019). The (Regionfakta, 2019). In addition, local companies bulk of population growth in 2015 and 2016 can, Stenvalls and the wood/timber building construc- however, be traced to immigration, dating to when tor Lindbäcks employ around 500 people between Piteå was obliged to take its share of refugees ar- them. Otherwise, the largest overall employers are the municipality and the Norrbotten Region, with nearly 6,000 employees in total (Regionfakta, Piteå, annual population change 2007–2016 2019). In 2018 there were 1,498 active companies in the municipality that had up to 200 employees, 42 000 and six that employed 200 or more (Statistics 41 800 Sweden, 2018). 41 600 The forest and the forestry have long formed 41 400 a stable base for Piteå’s business community. The 41 200 shift-share analysis (Figure V.13.2) shows that lo- 41 000 40 800 cal efforts have had a positive impact on the agri- 40 600 culture, forestry and fishery sector. The manufac- 40 400 turing sector is also doing better than expected. 40 200 The pillars of this growth are the two large pa- per industry companies mentioned above, SCA 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 and Smurfit Kappa. In addition, leading sawmills, Figure V.13.1. Population Change in Piteå 2007–2016 metal and engineering industries, house construc- nordregio report 2020:1 196 tion companies and a wind power farm are being (Piteå, n.d.). Peter Palmqvist, Labour Market Di- constructed. The harbour in Piteå is important for rector for the municipality, points out that all the these industries and the labour market in general. extra electricity produced will create potential for However, job growth in health, social work and further developments, such as energy-intensive education sector, has been lower than expected. businesses. His hope is that Piteå will prove so at- One substantial boost to the labour market is tractive to business that the municipality will be a huge wind park, where 1,100 wind turbines are able to choose what kind of business it wants. The being built. Construction started in 2018 and, by preference, in relation to the existing timber and the end of 2019, 179 turbines will already be in use. paper industries, is some kind of environmentally This is creating 500 jobs the first two years, which friendly industry, since it is important to preserve will largely be filled by foreign labour. Fifty perma- the unique and untouched natural environment in nent jobs are expected to be created in the wind the area. This is a resource that Palmqvist believes park from 2020, which will be the largest such will increase further in value, attract tourists, and facility on shore in Europe when it is completed. create more jobs. Piteå, 2008–2016 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 A Companies in agriculture, forestry and fishing B+C Mining, quarrying, manufacturing D+E Energy and environmental companies F Construction industry G Trade H Transport and storage companies I Hotels and restaurants J Information and communication companies K Financial institutions and insurance companies L Real estate companies M+N Professional, scientific and technical ... O Public authorities and national defence P Educational establishments Q Human health and social work establishments R+S+T+U Establishments for arts, entertainment ... 00 Unknown activity Jobs in 2016 Local Employment Effect Employment Change predicted on the basis of sectorial and national trends Figure V.13.2. Employment and the local employment effect in in Piteå. Theblue bar shows the number of jobs in the area in 2016. The grey bar shows the employment change predicted on the basis of sectoral and national trends. The red bar shows the local employment effect, a reflection of the change in jobs (growth or decline) at municipal level over a period of time, attributed to local factors (e.g. local policies, local natural or institutional conditions). In the cases where it is positive, the local development in that particular industry is better than would have been predicted, based on national and sector trends. This means that industry in the area is strong- er, or specific impactful policies are in place. Qualitative methods of data collection (e.g. interviews) helped us to understand the reasons behind these statistics. nordregio report 2020:1 197 Job development in Piteå, by number of jobs 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Jobs in 2016 A. companies in 479 442 489 690 743 774 755 757 740 agriculture, forestry and fishing B+C. mining, quarrying, 2835 2670 2548 2559 2545 2484 2490 2550 2663 manufacturing D+E. energy and 193 216 233 220 229 252 289 267 278 environmental companies F. construction industry 1378 1383 1464 1508 1549 1598 1649 1631 1653 G. trade 1789 1674 1726 1787 1826 1789 1770 1737 1763 H. transport and storage 902 874 929 913 947 982 1025 997 986 companies I. hotels and restaurants 515 431 496 477 485 530 551 515 495 J. information and com- 222 204 215 206 218 214 198 222 216 munication companies K.