LOCAL AUTHORITY OBSERVATORY STOCKHOLM

LOCAL AUTHORITY OBSERVATORY STOCKHOLM Cities and Active Inclusion: Employment & Training Active inclusion on the labour market / Christina Groenberg / Social Welfare- and Labour Market Administration, City of Stockholm

Acknowledgements With a special thanks to our reference group

Cover design by: fuel. - www.fueldesign.be §§

Active inclusion on the labour market

National report on the role of labour services for the active inclusion of people furthest away from the labour market

Local Authority Observatory on Active Inclusion Stockholm

Foreword

The European Forum and Labour Market Unit at the Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration in the city of Stockholm is taking part in the EUROCITIES-Network of Local Authority Observatories on Active Inclusion (EUROCITIES-NLAO) project from March 2009 to August 2010. This project is being managed by EUROCITIES, the European network of major European cities (more than 250 000 inhabitants). Four other cities, Bologna (Italy), Prague (Czech Republic), Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Southampton (United Kingdom), are taking part in the project and have each set up a Local Authority Observatory on Active Inclusion (LAO). The aim of the project is to use local studies to examine how the EU’s active inclusion strategy is being implemented and working at local level. Two studies are being carried out within this project. The first report dealt with housing issues, and this one examines employment and active inclusion on the labour market. The purpose of these reports is to describe how policy at local level affects people at risk of social exclusion. The aim is to bring about mutual learning and use comparisons and good examples to attempt to influence future policy. Active inclusion is a comprehensive strategy for combating poverty and social exclusion across Europe based on common objectives and principles shared by all EU Member States. This strategy involves three elements: an adequate minimum income, inclusive labour markets and access to good quality social services. The Active Inclusion Policy must facilitate the integration into sustainable, quality employment of those who can work and provide resources that are sufficient to live in dignity, together with support for social participation, for those who cannot.1 The role of social services in the stimulation of active inclusion thus has two elements: 1) to help the target group to become employable and 2) to support anyone who is unable to work to live a dignified life by providing support, funding and care to establish reasonable living conditions. According to the Commission, the following social services are particularly relevant in respect of the active inclusion concept: - social assistance services - employment and training services - housing support and social housing - childcare - long-term care services - health services EUROCITIES-NLAO is a pilot project that is investigating two of the above areas: housing and employment. This project is being financed by the EU Commission, Directorate for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. This report is based on the literature referred to in the text, four interviews, one focus group with researchers and an expert group that has followed the process (three meetings). The draft version of this report was validated at a seminar at which experts and stakeholders in the field took part in focus groups to discuss its content and, in particular, to draw conclusions and suggest recommendations. The report was written by Maria Andersson (project employee) and Christina Grönberg (Project Manager).

1 EC Recommendation on the active inclusion of people excluded from the labour market, 3 October 2008

Definitions

National labour market policies: activities aimed at the unemployed (state financed) Activation financial support: financial support within the public activation programmes

Municipal labour market policies: social assistance activities aimed at the unemployed2 Social assistance: means-tested financial support from the municipality Jobbtorg: the municipal employment service in Stockholm

Abbreviations

Public Employment Service: PES National Social Insurance Service: NSIS

This publication is supported under the European Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS 2007-2013). The information contained in this publication does not reflect the opinion of the European Commission, and all responsibility for the content rests with the authors.

2 IFAU, Kommunerna och arbetsmarknadspolitiken, Rapport 2008:13. Lundin Martin

Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

2. CONTEXT...... 1

A) POLITICS ...... 1 The Swedish welfare state ...... 1 Function of the Swedish labour market ...... 2 B) POLICY FRAMEWORK...... 2 Active labour market policy ...... 2 Regulation of the labour market ...... 4 Job security system/Transition agreements ...... 5 C) GOVERNANCE ...... 5 National level...... 6 Regional level ...... 7 Municipal level ...... 7 D) RECENT NATIONAL REFORMS AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT ...... 10

3. URBAN CHALLENGES AND VULNERABLE GROUPS...... 12

3.1 MIGRANTS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES...... 12 3.2 YOUNG PEOPLE, EARLY SCHOOL LEAVERS...... 13 3.3 DISABLED, CHRONICALLY SICK PEOPLE ...... 14 3.4 LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED...... 14 3.5 OTHER GROUPS WITH DIFFICULTIES ON THE LABOUR MARKET AND GENERAL COMMENTS ...... 14

4. LOCAL PRACTICE...... 16

4.1 APPROACHES ...... 16 4.1.1 Local economic development, Local employers and Social economy ...... 16 4.1.2 Integration with other policies...... 17 4.1.3 Local assessment, local planning ...... 17 4.1.4 Conditionality of social assistance ...... 17 4.1.5 Partnership, coordination...... 18 4.1.6 Commissioning and quality management...... 19 4.1.7 Local practices and use of ESF...... 19 4.2 SERVICES ...... 20 4.2.1 Education to work ...... 20 4.2.2 Concrete action at local level in Sweden...... 21 4.2.3 Concrete actions in Stockholm...... 22 4.2.4 Supported employment ...... 25

5. CONCLUSIONS/STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES...... 26

6. EU COMMON PRINCIPLES AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 28

LIST OF REFERENCES ...... 31

EXISTING INSTRUMENTS/PROGRAMMES IN THE EMPLOYMENT FIELD...... 35

1. Introduction

This report examines the role of employment and training services for the inclusion of particularly vulnerable people. It is an output of the EUROCITIES-Network of Local Authority Observatories on Active Inclusion (EUROCITIES-NLAO) that monitors the implementation of the active inclusion strategy at local level with particular focus on social services. The active inclusion strategy was designed at European level.3 It aims to integrate people furthest away from the labour market by helping them to become employable and supporting those who are unable to work to live a dignified life by providing financial and social support. Vulnerable people tend to be affected by economic downturns. In Stockholm, the labour market has not been greatly affected by the recent crisis, though it is harder for some groups such as young jobseekers. Other parts of Sweden with a greater reliance on industrial production are affected more, for example, the west of Sweden with car industry (Volvo, Saab). Overall, 4 499 000 persons were employed in Sweden in 2009. This is a decrease of 94 000 persons compared with 2008. The number of unemployed persons increased to 8.5 per cent of the labour force. The employment rate fell by 2 per cent to 65 per cent.4 From an urban perspective, Stockholm has the highest employment rate for 20-64-year-olds at 77 per cent, while Göteborg has 74 per cent and Malmö 64 per cent (2007). From an international perspective, Sweden has the highest (OECD) employment rate (71.5%) for older people (55-64-year-olds, 2008)5. It is generally harder for an older person to face unemployment. The employment rate for women is exceptionally high in Sweden, with 76 per cent of the women (men 77%) in Stockholm employed (2007).6 Women thus have a high presence on the labour market, though they tend to work part time to a greater extent than men.7

2. Context

This chapter aims to give an overview of the Swedish labour market policy field, political priorities, governance and the main actors in the field.

a) Politics

The Swedish welfare state

The Swedish welfare state and labour market policy emphasize social rights, and re- distributive, equal wage and well-developed childcare structures. The developed childcare and family support system often makes it possible for both parents to work. Due to the equal wage

3 EC Recommendation on the active inclusion of people excluded from the labour market, 3 October 2008 4 www.scb.se 5 Ibid. 6 www.usk.se 7 National Employment Service: Prognos, Arbetsmarknad Stockholms län, 2009 1

structure, low-skill, entry-level jobs contribute to a decent standard of living8 According to Esping-Andersen, there are four important features of the Swedish welfare state: • full employment strategy: strong interventions in order to maintain full employment • ‘work-line’: strong work ethic to be self-sufficient through employment • active labour market policy programmes: motivating individuals to enter and re-enter the labour market • unemployment insurance system: voluntary, important financial benefit system administrated by the trade unions and subsidized by government funds9 The Swedish system has a dual welfare policy structure. This means that those with a stable position on the labour market experience a high level of social security, such as employment insurance and sickness benefits. Those who have never established themselves on the labour market, on the other hand, often have to rely on social assistance in case of financial difficulties.10 For a long time, high employment rates guaranteed a growing proportion of the citizens access to social services in the social security system. The welfare state was built up as a universal feature that approached some kind of ideal of social citizenship, a society in which all citizens contributed to extensive support within a social service system.11 Sweden has a long tradition of active labour market policies that support full employment, and a system of work that is a prerequisite for economic benefits from unemployment insurance and the social security system. There is also a political and symbolical tradition in the welfare model to define the citizen as a ‘worker’. 12

Function of the Swedish labour market

Historically, the labour market was characterized by unregulated conflicts between the big actors: Svenska Arbetsgivarföreningen (SAF, Swedish Employers’ Confederation) and Landsorganisationen i Sverige (LO, Swedish Trade Union Confederation). In 1938, the famous Saltsjöbadsavtalet (Saltsjöbaden Agreement) was concluded between LO and SAF and set the trend for all agreements on the labour market. The rules created a stable labour market without big conflicts and strikes. A norm was set that the two sides should conclude agreements without interference from the Government. The agreement is still valid. The last changes were conducted in 1976, and discussions are under way to renew it. About 70 per cent of the workers in Sweden are members of a union.

b) Policy Framework

Active labour market policy

The Swedish labour market policy has its roots in the old ‘work-line’ tradition developed in

8 Thorén Katarina, Activation policy Policy in Action, A street level study of social assistance in the Swedish Welfare State, 2008 – see Esping-Andersen (1990), Titmuss (1974) 9 Esping – Andersen G, Three worlds of welfare capitalism, 1990 10 Thorén, Ibid. 11 Johansson Håkan, I det sociala medborgarksapets skugga, p.12, 2001 12 Finansdepartementet, Svensk aktiveringspolitik i nordiskt perspektiv, 2006 2

the old days when poor people lived in so-called poorhouses and had to work. In the 1930s, labour market policy changed from focusing primarily on emergency and special work to tackle the worst conditions on the market to providing work for the unemployed and combating recession by increasing the demand for goods and services. Later on, the message changed to emphasizing the right to work.13 A more modern active policy was born with the so-called Rehn-Meidner model (1951).14 The strategy had four objectives for economic policy: low inflation, low unemployment, equality in wage distribution and high economic growth.15 The model meant more resources to stimulate geographical mobility, and for training and re-training. An active policy continued until the beginning of the 1990s when an explosion in unemployment led to a new situation in which the existing programmes were inadequate.16 There is a long tradition of supported employment with an option of employing subsidized labour within different programmes. Another common intervention has been to support companies during structural transformations.17

Types of employment

There are three kinds of employment on the Swedish labour market: permanent employment (without a fixed ending date; it ends when the employer terminates the employment, with justified reason, or the employee wants to leave); trial employment (six months, after which the employment should become permanent; alternatively, the employer has the right to terminate the employment during the trial period without the need for specific justification); and time-fixed employment (may be used for seasonal work if the company needs specific skills in a project or because of a temporary work overload). It is especially hard for vulnerable people to gain permanent employment.

Income compensation

Sweden has a number of work-related insurance schemes that are part of the universal benefit system. A person who has not been working (does not qualify for work-related income support) will be directed to the municipal means-tested income support. For people with a position on the labour market, there is a developed security system. People who have not established themselves on the labour market are more exposed however. The following benefits are relevant: Work-related benefit systems • unemployment benefit This is an independent unemployment fund linked to the trade unions. It is not necessary to be a member to take part in it (it is possible to pay a lower fee for the fund only). The unemployment fund is voluntary, which has led to a discussion on the creation of compulsory support, as nowadays more people do not take part and risk ending up without this support. The benefits are mostly state financed. A small part is financed through fees from members and employers. The maximum benefit

13 Hedblom Agneta, Aktiveringspolitikens Janusansikte, 2004. 14 Put forward by the two trade union economists Gösta Rehn and Rudolf Meidner 15 Bonoli Giuliano, The political economy of active labour market policy, 2010 16 Olofsson Jonas & Wadensjö Eskil, Arbetslöshet, 2005 17 Johansson Håkan & Horneman Moller Iver, Aktivering, 2009 3

per day was reduced two years ago (80 per cent of the salary, maximum 70 euro/day). • activation financial support The PES decides on and is responsible for the programme (max 450 days). Participation is mandatory. The National Social Insurance Service (NSIS) administrates the payment (state financed). • sick leave financial support • ill health pension, disability pension and early retirement Both supports are administrated by the NSIS and are state financed. • parental benefits (administrated by the NSIS) • old age pensions (administrated by the Swedish Pensions Agency) Both supports are universal, state-financed benefits. Means-tested financial support • social assistance This support is administrated and financed by the municipality and is means-tested for individuals who do not qualify for work-related benefits. This benefit is the last safety net in Swedish society. None of the financial supports mentioned above (except old age pension) can be combined with studies. If a person wants to study, he/she needs to take out student loans. A general criticism of the division of responsibilities for income compensation is that the authorities tend to be satisfied as long as the client no longer charges the authority’s own budget. This criticism means that the authority does not focus enough on the individual’s self-supporting capacity. A response to this phenomenon is Finansiell samordning (financial cooperation), cooperation between the PES, NSIS, municipality and county. There is a special law18 to regulate such cooperation. In 2009, there were 82 cooperation arrangements in 161 municipalities, several in the county, but none in the city of Stockholm. Financial cooperation aims to rehabilitate individuals so they do not need to contact several agencies with each one acting independently.19

Regulation of the labour market

The Swedish labour market is regulated by agreements, not just laws and market rules.

Collective agreements

One of the most important regulations on the Swedish labour market is the collective agreement. This is a written agreement between unions and employers’ organizations or employers that governs wages and other employment conditions for workers. These fundamental rights are therefore not regulated by law but in agreements. The unions strive to maximize the number of employers with which they conclude collective agreements. The agreements are seen as setting the lowest acceptable levels of wages and work conditions. One advantage is that strikes are very uncommon, as agreements have been made. The collective agreements reflect the importance of the unions on the labour market.

18 Lag (2003:1210) om finansiell samordning av rehabiliteringsinsatser 19 www.skl.se 4

Security law system

A security law system is usually mentioned as a fundamental feature of the Swedish labour market. The main law is Lagen om anställningsskydd (LAS 1982:80, Employment Protection Act)20, which regulates secure employment. All aspects of employment should comply with LAS or, as in some cases, more advantageous conditions agreed in collective agreements or employment contracts. One debated part of the law has been the principle that the last person employed is the first to leave in the case of layoffs. The system can be unfavourable to those who are new in the labour market. Employers have also sometimes found it hard to lose competence that is needed and keeping employees with skills that are needed less. The law has therefore changed slightly to improve the chances of keeping valuable competence (companies with max ten employees are allowed to exempt two persons from the rule of ‘last in, first out’).21 An important law on the labour market is Lag om medbestämmande i arbetslivet22 (MBL, Co-Determination in the Workplace Act). The objective of the act is to promote active participation by employees and shape collective power. This is mostly done by unions in the workplace.

Job security system/Transition agreements Different actors support employees during a transition process. Trygghetsrådet (security board) for employees in the private sector has existed since 1974 through a collective agreement on transition. The service is paid for by affiliated companies as an insurance policy.23 Trygghetsstiftelsen (Job Security Foundation) for state employees was established in 1990 under the Job Security Agreement, and it is financed through fees from employers (government agencies). The main aim is to support employees in the case of redundancy.24 LO and Svenskt Näringsliv (Confederation of Swedish Enterprises) started Trygghetsfonden (security fund) in 2004. The fund covers 900 000 workers. The companies devote a percentage of their payroll to support workers’ transition. All the security benefits imply that a proportion of the workers receive support (education/coaching) from a structure other than the public one.25

c) Governance

There are two main actors within the labour market policy field: the Public Employment Service (PES) and the municipality.

20 http://www.notisum.se/rnp/sls/lag/19820080.HTM 21 LO, Carlén Thomas & Löfgren Anna-Kirsti, Nitton diagram om ungas arbetslöshet, 2009 22 Law 1976:580 23 http://www.trr.se/ 24 http://www.tsn.se/om-oss.aspx 25 Olofsson Jonas, En mer segmenterad arbetsmarknad – nya förutsättningar för arbetsmarknaden, 2008 5

National level

Labour market policies have historically been an important national responsibility in Sweden. Parliament decides on overall goals and directions. The Ministry of Employment and Labour has two main responsibilities for labour policy (working hours, work environment, labour) and labour market policy (employment agencies, employment training and unemployment).

Main national actors and their roles

Public Employment Service The PES is the main national actor providing labour market initiatives. While an individual takes part in a programme administrated by the PES, he/she can receive financial support from one of three primary sources: • unemployment benefits • activation financial support26 • social assistance (financed and administrated by the municipality) The PES is divided into 68 geographical labour market areas with a total of 320 local employment agencies. In 2008, private job agencies were procured by the agency in order to provide additional aid to jobseekers. These private actors are particularly important for providing support to those furthest away from the labour market and to young people. The mandate for the employment service comes from the Government and Parliament and it is formulated in regulations and instructions27. The mission is also clarified in the annual budget. The budget for 2009 totalled 62 billion SEK (40 billion for unemployment benefit/activity support, 10 billion for sheltered employment, 7 billion for employment training and 5 billion for administration). The overall objective for the PES is to improve the functionality of the labour market by: • effectively bringing jobseekers and employers together • supporting people who are far removed from the labour market • contributing to a permanent increase in employment in the long term The main programme component is matching rather than training enhancements. To be eligible to take part in PES programmes, the client must be considered ‘to be available for the labour market’

National Social Insurance Service (NSIS) The NSIS is responsible for a large part of the public security system: investigation, decisions on and disbursement of benefits under the Social Security Act. This includes insurance and contributions to families with children, the sick or disabled and pensioners. With regard to the sick, the agency has a broader mission to coordinate the resources required to rehabilitate people to get them back to work. This requires coordination between the individual, employer, health care and employment services. The NSIS also takes the final decisions with regard to ability to work based on medical evaluations. In 2008, the insurance paid out about 15 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The goal is to create a rehabilitation chain that leads back to work. New regulations for the agency

26 Regulation (1996:1100) 27 Regulation (2000:628) and Instructions (2007:1030)

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will be explored in the section Recent national reforms.

Unemployment insurance funds The purpose of unemployment insurance funds is to provide secure financial support to their members in case of unemployment (regulated under the Unemployment Security- and the PES Act). Inspectorate for Unemployment Insurance (IAF) The IAF supervises the unemployment insurance funds. Samhall The state-owned company Samhall is the biggest centre of sheltered employment in Sweden with 21 000 employees at 250 locations. Its aim is to create meaningful and developing work opportunities for the disabled and persons with reduced work ability.

Regional level

There are no formal tasks at regional level in the employment field, though there is a trend in urban areas to focus more on regions. The regions of Göteborg, Västra Götalandsregionen, and Malmö, Region Skåne, have developed this concept further than Stockholm, though the Stockholm region, Mälardalsregionen, is an upcoming central spot. The Office of Regional Planning at Stockholm County Council28 designs the Regional Development Plan for the Stockholm Region, RUFS 2010, containing plans for transport, business development, etc. The infrastructure is crucial to enlarging the labour market. Improvements have been made to enable people in nearby municipalities to work in Stockholm. The European Social Fund (ESF), which is coordinated with the RUFS, is a possible source of financing for regional projects.

Municipal level

First, a few words on typical municipal governance in Sweden. A structure of municipal self- government gives the municipalities a great degree of independence. Municipal self-government means that there should be an independent and, within certain confines, free right of decision- making for municipalities and county councils. According to the constitution, municipalities have a taxation right in order to fulfil their duties and as part of municipal self-government. The municipalities’ tax income constitutes 20 per cent of Sweden’s GNP, and the municipalities represent 70 per cent of public consumption. This sector employs 25 per cent of the working population, more than a million Swedes.29

The first Public Employment Service, with strong links to the municipality, was established in the city of Helsingborg in 1902. A landmark in municipal involvement in labour market activities dates from 1944 when Lag om arbetslöshetsnämnd (SFS 1944:475, Act respecting Unemployment Committees) was introduced. The law indicates that municipalities should help find training and

28 http://www.rtk.sll.se/english/ 29 www.skl.se 7

support employment in public programmes. Municipalities have no formal mission and have limited responsibility for labour market policy. Nonetheless, municipalities still play a major role in designing policy at local level. Besides the PES, the municipalities are the main local players in the field of labour market policy. The municipal role was enforced in the 1990s but has weakened slightly recently (see page 9). Municipalities have a big interest in well-functioning local labour markets in order to limit social costs/problems and eliminate the risk of people moving to find work elsewhere.30 The main reason for municipal involvement is that unemployment is costly (social assistance and less tax income) and municipalities tend to argue that public programmes are inadequate. The costs of social assistance rose sharply during the economic recession of the 1990s. When the economic situation improved, the dependence on social assistance decreased, though not to as low a level as before.31 In Stockholm, social assistance costs have recovered however. A municipality is not normally allowed to support an inhabitant, likställighetsprincipen (principle of equivalence), with services outside the municipality’s competence. According to the Social Services Act32, however, it should promote the individual’s right to work. A municipality can provide advice and matching to those who want to start their own business and work with general business promotion. In general, a municipality has two roles within the labour market field: • to make, finance and implement local policy • as an employer and, as such, a provider of labour market activities (often financed by the PES) Since the 1990s, municipalities have taken on an increasingly active role in labour market policy for social assistance recipients. Since 1998, they have had the legal right to demand participation in activation programmes, making the obligation to participate stronger. Legal sanctions were introduced when recipients of financial social assistance did not fulfil the municipality’s requirements. Further municipal activation programmes and projects were developed. The formal role of the municipality in labour market policy is ‘to make individuals matchable’. Despite few formal legal rights, some municipalities are very involved in labour market activities. It is mainly up to the municipality to decide the extent of its involvement. This can therefore vary greatly from one municipality to another.33

Different approaches by the Public Employment Service and the municipality The overall aim to help people support themselves and avoid exclusion is a mutual goal of the PES and the municipality. Some priorities can differ however. A majority of the municipalities finds it important to reduce the costs of social assistance, though this is not a special priority for the PES. In fact, the municipalities often feel that the PES’s service is not doing enough to help these clients. There are also differences in the assessment of whether a jobseeker on social assistance is employable. This aspect is crucial, as employability determines responsibility: the PES is responsible

30 IFAU, Kommunerna och arbetsmarknadspolitiken Rapport 2008:13, Lundin Martin 31 www.socialstyrelsen.se 32 Chapter 3, §2 (2001:453) 33 Ess 2006:3 8

for employable persons and the municipality for unemployable persons.34 The PES encourages mobile labour, but municipalities do not normally want parts of their population to move, as a stable local demographical situation is important to them.35 Stockholm is different in this respect however. With its constantly growing population, the city encourages a mobile labour force.

The municipal activation approach

This approach was developed in response to the crisis in the 1990s with the idea of emphasizing active integration of unemployed social assistance recipients in contrast to a more passive income support system. Acceptable activation can be participation in an activity with the aim of strengthening the individual to approach the labour market.36 Initially, the activation approach targeted young people and foreign-born persons. Nowadays, almost everyone who receives social assistance is subject to the approach. The chart below illustrates how the assessment can differ.

Activation model37 Characteristics Alternatives: Participation principle Voluntary/requirements vs. attendance control Selection principle Voluntary vs. mass selection Scope of negotiation Individual, tailor-made programme activities vs. top-down required activities Programme components Skill and knowledge enhancement through education and training vs. work enforcement and work first

In the above model, the most common trends after the 1990s are shown in bold. It became common practice to require participation. In many cases, municipalities have a number of activities for which participants are selected. They need to participate, but the choice of provider and the focus of the programmes have become more individualized and broader, at least in the big cities. The programme focus has changed. Previously there was more focus on mass education. Nowadays, there is more focus on guiding efforts, CVs and matching with a personal coach. The goal of ‘work first’ is the dominating strategy.38 The activation demand can influence both the inflow to and outflow from the social assistance system. Fewer people may apply for social assistance because of the activation requirement and more people may find a job. The Institute of Labour Market Policy Evaluation has found that activation has positive effects regarding lower costs for social assistance and higher employment rates in certain Stockholm districts. The positive effect was more visible for young adults and

34 IFAU, Fattigdom i folkhemmet – från socialbidrag till självförsörjning, Rapport 2009:4, Dahlberg Matz, Edmark Karin, Hansen Jörgen, Mörk Eva 35 IFAU, Rapport 2008:13, Ibid. 36 Thorén, cit, p. 38 37 Adapted from Thoréns model of Principal Activations Models (2008). This used a model to define a two-tier typology for activation policy models called the Enabling model and the Coercive Model 38 Tallberg Pontus, (red.) Vem har ansvar för välfärden ? (Who is responsible for social welfare?) 2008 9

foreign-born persons.39

d) Recent national reforms and policy development

Former governments have had numerical goals for unemployment while current governments focus on an overall objective: ‘a well-functioning labour market’ (more matchmaking). One strategy for the current government has been to focus on improved financial incentives to work (lower income tax) and incentives to employ (less payroll tax). An important goal is for unemployment insurance only to provide compensation for a short period.40 A current strategy is to acquire more responsibility at national level (at the PES) in the labour policy field to enforce labour market contact. Examples of changes in responsibilities: • receivers of sick-leave benefit are transferred to the PES after a set insurance period • youth programmes: responsibility is removed from municipalities (the municipality still has a monitoring and information responsibility for inactive young people under the age of 20)41 • part of the refugee introduction: responsibility is removed from municipalities • the instrument for governing (labour councils) has been replaced by another form in which the municipality has a smaller role than before

Reform of sick-leave benefits

In order to tackle the large number of people on sick leave, the Government has set up new rules that reduce the period for which a person can receive sickness benefit to 364 days (compensation at 80 per cent of the salary). The period of sickness can then be prolonged to 550 days after the first application (compensation at 75 per cent for the prolonged period). After these two periods, the client is transferred to the PES where an individualized programme of three months starts. Thereafter, the client can join a regular PES programme or apply for sick-leave benefit again. As a result of this, a large number of people may eventually lose sick-leave benefits and have to apply for social assistance. Many clients of the National Insurance Service who have reached the maximum number of insured days (550 days) will continue to be transferred to the PES. About 50 000 people will be transferred in 2010. Serious illness is of course a reason to continue receiving sick-leave benefit. It can be difficult for the NSIS to assess each case. The rehabilitation work for a sick-leave benefit receiver has become more time specific. Assessments are carried out three times a year to investigate if the client can return to work in the same position, in a different position for the same employer or cannot return to the labour market at all.

39 IFAU, Effekter av aktiveringskrav på socialbidragstagare i Stockholms stadsdelar, Rapport 2008:24, Dahlberg Matz, Johansson Kajsa, Mörk Eva, 2008 40 www.regeringen.se 41 Olofsson Jonas, Panican Alexandru, Pettersson Lars, Righard Erica, Ungdomars övergång från skola till arbetsliv – aktuella utmaningar och lokala erfarenheter, 2009 10

Job and development guarantee42 with activation financial support43

The current Job and development guarantee was introduced in 2007. It emphasizes a quick entry/return to the labour market. The aim is for an individual to find a job as quickly as possible by participating in personalized activities. The programme is designated to individuals who have been unemployed for a long time (normally more than 300 days). The guarantee is divided into three phases that include different activities. If a job is not found at phase three (after 450 days), a permanent public benefit job should be offered.44

New Start Job and Lyft

New Start Job was introduced in 2007. The aim is for employers to involve persons who have been outside the labour market for a year or more. The state-financed compensation to the employer increases with the length of time the person has been unemployed. In 2008, 14 500 people had New Start Jobs. An initial mapping shows a rise in the proportion of foreign-born persons and those absent from the labour market for reasons other than unemployment (for example, sick leave) with a New Start Job compared with other supported employment.45 There are constant changes and new programmes at the PES (see attachment with current programmes). One big programme aimed at offering more training periods at real workplaces is the so-called Lyft (see Section 4.1).

Problems and challenges:

• Lack of consistent and coherent, coordinated responsibility, partially overlapping areas of responsibility and overlapping target groups • Not all unemployed persons have access to the programmes at the Public Employment Service as the client must be considered ‘to be available for the labour market’.

42 Regulation 2007:414 43 Regulation 1996:1100 44 Arbetsförmedlingens faktablad om jobb- och utvecklingsgarantin, 2010 45 IFAU, Arbetsförmedlingens arbete med nystartsjobben, Rapport 2008:9, Lundin Daniela, Liljeberg Linus, 2008

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3. Urban challenges and vulnerable groups

In Sweden, the urban challenges are mostly related to the big differences within cities. It is a segregation problem. In some areas in the big cities of Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö, the employment rate is very low. The area of Rinkeby in Stockholm, for example, had an employment rate of 47 per cent in 2007 compared with 77 per cent generally in the city. The unemployment rate among men is high and the employment rate among women is low. Some immigrant women in segregated areas tend not to be available for work. Stockholm has the best labour market in Sweden, but a large proportion of the population is still excluded. There have been a number of specially focused initiatives to increase the employment rate in segregated suburbs, but a big challenge remains to create more equal conditions on the labour market within the city. The risk of alternative career paths such as crime attracting the long-term unemployed who have lost hope of finding a job is probably greater in big cities, especially for young people.

Public and municipal employment services are used to dealing with different target groups in order to apply the correct efforts and conduct relevant analyses. Each target group mentioned in this chapter is extremely heterogeneous, however, and can only partly explain the whole picture. Some difficulties can be common. An initial period of unemployment, for example, is common for migrants and young people who share the difficulty of being new on the labour market. The Labour Market Unit in the city of Stockholm concentrates on four groups considered to be more excluded from the labour market than others: 1. migrants and ethnic minorities 2. young people, especially early school leavers 3. disabled or chronically ill people 4. the long-term unemployed These are generally the most relevant groups in Sweden, though in some cities the migrant group is not very big, and the demographical situation can differ (proportion of young people in the population).

3.1 Migrants and ethnic minorities

A majority of the registered jobseekers at the municipal employment service in Stockholm is born outside Sweden. As many have never had employment in Sweden, they do not qualify for the unemployment insurance system. Instead, they receive social assistance and they are assigned to the municipal employment service. It can be harder for migrants in Sweden to acquire sufficient language skills than for migrants in Anglo-Saxon or French-speaking countries, where they are often already familiar with the language. Even with adequate education and language skills, it can be hard because of discrimination. There is a new discrimination law from 2009 (2008:567). § 1 This Law is intended to combat discrimination and in other forms support equal rights and opportunities regardless of gender, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age. Despite these good intentions, problems still exist. Studies show that inequalities on the labour market remain even when taking into account equivalent training, experiences and human capital

12

otherwise.46 In 2007, 77 per cent of the population (20-64-year-olds) in Stockholm was working (59 per cent of foreign-born persons).47 The time to become established on the labour market is especially long for newly arrived refugees. The Integration Board has followed up those who arrived in 1996. Ten per cent of the men had a job after holding a residence permit for one year and fifty per cent after five years.48 The PES mentions problems of lack of contacts and references, as most employers recruit based on personal contacts.49

3.2 Young people, early school leavers

Young people are generally greatly affected by economic downturns, although, their unemployment rate falls faster when the economy improves again.50 Young people change jobs more frequently than others do and often end up in periods of unemployment (friction unemployment). There is research to suggest that unemployment at a young age affects the whole career and life income.51 It can also affect physical and mental health due to social exclusion.52 Three possible structural reasons are sometimes mentioned as obstacles to young jobseekers in Sweden: 1. extensive employment security: big commitment to employ 2. high starting salaries according to agreements on the labour market 3. high educational demands, especially for youngsters without a high school diploma Participation in Swedish education is high. The expected total number of years in education is 20.3 (the EU average is 19).53 Nonetheless, young people with incomplete education skills risk exclusion from the labour market. In recent years, the proportion of students who have completed full secondary education has increased. Every year, one in three students still does not manage to complete basic eligibility for further studies however.54 Sweden has a very high rate of unemployment among youngsters of 24 per cent (15-24-year-olds, December 2009).55 The definition of the labour force has been adapted to the international ILO definition (previously 18-24-year-olds, which gave lower unemployment rates). Investigations have shown that the most common reasons for exclusion among young adults are a lack of social contacts, deficient education and little work experience.56 No former income leads to an overrepresentation of social assistance, though it is normally for a short time.57

46 Reyes Paulina de los, LO, Etnisk diskriminering i arbetslivet –kunskapsläge och kunskapsbehov, 2008 47 Stockholms stads Utrednings- och statistikkontor (USK) 48 Regeringens prop. 2009/10:60, Nyanlända invandrares arbetsmarknadsetablering – egenansvar med professionellt stöd 49 Public Employment Service: Prognos, Arbetsmarknad Stockholms län, 2009 50 IFAU: Hur hjälps ungdomar av arbetsmarknadspolitiska program för unga 2006:5, Forslund Anders, Nordström Skans Oskar 51 Forskningsråd Arbetsliv & Socialvetenskap, Ungdomar, utbildning och arbetsmarknad i Norden – lika men ändå olika, 2007 52 Olofsson Jonas & Panican Alexandru, Ungdomars väg från skola till arbetsliv – nordiska erfarenheter, 2008 53 Forskningsrådet för Arbetsliv och Socialvetenskap, aa 54 Skolverket, Studieresultat i gymnasieskolan – en statistisk beskrivning av ofullständiga gymnasiebetyg, 2008 55 www.scb.se 56 Ungdomsstyrelsens skrift 2006:6, Arbetsmarknadssatsningen – att bryta ungdomars utanförskap på arbetsmarknaden, 2006 57 IFAU, Rapport 2009:4, aa 13

3.3 Disabled, chronically sick people

The municipal employment service in Stockholm only deals with people with 50 per cent work ability (barely half of the social assistance receivers have less work ability). They receive benefits for socio-medical reasons and they are helped in their city district. People with disabilities often have difficulties competing with other jobseekers. Intellectually disabled persons and those with brain damage are entitled to sheltered employment according to Lag om stöd och service till vissa funktionshindrade (LSS, Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments). For mentally disabled persons, the law has been revised to add the right to daily activities. A change will probably be realized in 2011. Stockholm claims that it is important to emphasize the right to activation for mentally disabled persons. Even if the city offers a supply of labour market activities, there are many without any occupation at all. The NSIS has three categories of benefit recipients. One-third has a psychological illness, one-third has motion problems/pain, and one-third has another reason (cancer, infectious disease). The NSIS calculates an illness index that covers all the benefits for illness (short and long term, pensions) In Stockholm, the illness index was 26.5 per cent in 2009, which is lower than previously (33 per cent in 2005). It is also worth noting the broad Swedish workforce (e.g., many old and women workers), which can, to some extent, put a perspective on the fairly high illness index.

3.4 Long-term unemployed

One big concern is the group of jobseekers that is unemployed for a long time. Long-term unemployed is defined as more than 6 months for persons over 24 years old and more than 3 months for young people (under 24 years). At the end of 2009, almost one third of the unemployed were long-term unemployed.58 They are a very heterogeneous group with a range of different problems that prevent them from gaining employment. A person who is long-term unemployed often faces a combination of problems, like the groups mentioned before.

3.5 Other groups with difficulties on the labour market and General comments

It is of course also very hard for homeless people, drug abusers and prison leavers to find work on the regular labour market. In 2009, about half of the prisons ran vocational training (welding, tiling, construction, kitchens, forklift training) in coordination with the PES 28 vocational training, for about 400 prisoners. There is great interest in participating, and everyone involved is very positive to the opportunity. In general, lack of education and work experience is a big problem for persons leaving prison to avoid a relapse into crime.59

58 DN, Långtidsarbetslösheten har nästan fördubblats på ett år visar siffror från Statistiska Centralbyrån (SCB), 05/11/2009 59 BRÅ, Rapport 2009:21, Sysselsättning under och efter fängelsestraff 14

Generally, staff working with vulnerable groups tends to state that clients are helped with training and motivation to their highest level but that employers do not accept their work ability. A general trend on the labour market is high demands for qualifications, leading to overqualification.

Problems and challenges:

• Need of further coordination with local employers to stimulate jobs for vulnerable groups • Risk that a high unemployment rate among young people leads to long-term exclusion • Lack of efforts to increase work ability and reach non-working immigrant women

15

4. Local practice

This chapter describes the way a municipality, mainly Stockholm, works on a local level with employment activities. Stockholm has chosen an offensive labour market approach and it offers a series of services quite similar to those of the PES.

4.1 Approaches

Municipal labour market activities in Sweden target unemployed social assistance recipients. In Stockholm, over 10 000 households received social assistance in 2009, an increase compared with 2008. About half of the receivers had unemployment as the reason for receiving benefit.60

4.1.1 Local economic development, Local employers and Social economy

In general, Swedish municipalities work with local economic development and in cooperation with local employers in order to stimulate local business and create job opportunities. The organization Stockholm Business Region (SBR) works with local economic development in this region. The SBR contributes financially to Nyföretagarcentrum (advice centre for start-up businesses) and Innovation Stockholm (advice centre for innovations). According to the budget, the overall aim for the SBR is to advertise Stockholm as an attractive place for business establishment and a city to visit. The SBR should also investigate the conditions and support new and existing businesses to grow within the city strategies Järvalyftet and Söderortsvisionen61 (two initiatives in Stockholm to ameliorate the situation in segregated areas). The SBR does not normally work directly with employment issues, but indirectly. There is a link between new work opportunities and new establishments. Järvalyftet and Söderortsvisionen are about more jobs for vulnerable groups in segregated areas.62 Entreprenör Stockholm (Entrepreneur Stockholm) is a project running from 2008 to 2010 to further stimulate and support coordination for new business to develop in Stockholm. Two projects, in particular, in Stockholm, Matching (terminated) and the Recruitment Programme (see 4.2), have developed strategies to improve cooperation with local employers. Nowadays, the city has a developed network of employers. A crucial aspect of the cooperation is to enable employers to be involved early on in the process and tailor measures for each employer. A few municipalities in Sweden, of which Stockholm is not one, have put much work in to support social enterprising to create more job opportunities. There are about 200 social enterprises in Sweden, and about 7 000 people work in them (the number can depend on the definition used for social enterprise). A non-profit organization called Coompanion helps and coordinates actors within

60 USK: Månadsinformation, Ekonomiskt bistånd samt introduktionsersättning, 2009 61 Local development programmes in segregated areas with the aim to reduce big socio-economic differences between city districts 62 Stockholms stads budget 16

the social economy. Stockholm gives 500000 SEK (52 000 EUR) in grants every year to Coompanion.63

4.1.2 Integration with other policies

From an international perspective, the most important integrated services for the Swedish labour market, with high employment rates for both men and women, would probably be the parental system and childcare. The parental benefit system allows parents to stay at home with their children a total of 480 days per child (60 days are reserved for one of the parents).64 Children from one to five years old can be in childcare when the parents work or study. In Stockholm, parents with a newborn can leave older children in childcare for six hours per day (more than in some other municipalities). The unemployed are also allowed to use childcare for 30 hours per week. Stockholm has a guarantee to find a placement (in the district) within three months of a filed application. Demand is currently high as Stockholm is experiencing a baby boom.65 Single parents who work irregular hours, for example, during the night, can have a hard time finding appropriate childcare (normal open hours are 7:30-17:30). In Stockholm, housing and employment are considered as key elements for social inclusion. Some projects integrate these cornerstones. A Housing First project that just started will add employment measures as soon as the housing is arranged. Also within the efforts “Järvalyftet” and “Söderorts- visionen” there is an active focus on creating good conditions for both housing and employment.

4.1.3 Local assessment, local planning

In general, Swedish municipalities act as employers, to a great extent, and offer training placements to clients with state finance. Stockholm also offers training sessions paid for by the PES, but to a relatively small extent. The main part of Stockholm’s labour policy is to support social assistance recipients to enter the labour market.

4.1.4 Conditionality of social assistance

Local authorities became more involved in activation activities during the 1990s. As mentioned before, a change was made to the Social Service Act (SoL) in 199866 so that the municipality has the right to require social assistance recipients to participate in job search activities, designated training or other activation activities.67 There is a risk that different social workers deal with the activation requirement in different ways. The Swedish activation policy has a

63 Conference by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional growth, 16/03/2010 64 www.forsakringskassan.se 65 www.stockholm.se 66 Chapter 4, § 4 67 Lundin Martin, Ibid. 17

local basis, which implies local variation between municipalities and between districts within the city.68 Stockholm requires strict participation from social assistance receivers in preparation for becoming self-supportive. All clients with unemployment as the benefit reason are transferred to the Jobbtorg.

4.1.5 Partnership, coordination

The PES and the municipal employment services generally cooperate a great deal at local level. The closeness of the cooperation varies between municipalities. According to surveys, the majority of the representatives from the municipalities and the PES would like further developed cooperation.69 There is a cooperation agreement between Stockholm and the local PES that aims to: - be useful for the jobseeker and lead to rapid work opportunities - shorten the period of unemployment - avoid a double work load by integrating individual plans - respond to assessment from the respective organization with trust and confidence One initiative conducted in Stockholm (and some other municipalities) to offer integrated services and emphasize the importance of employment to rehabilitation in general is Krami. This is a cooperation arrangement between the municipal social welfare administration, the PES and the Prison and Probation Service. Participation is voluntary and includes requirements and opportunities.70 The PES was given a government mission to conduct a pilot project on the exclusion from the labour market of foreign-born women who were not registered as jobseekers. The aim is to develop methods. The projects started in 2009 and will end in 2010. It takes place in Stockholm and includes five other municipalities that have concluded an agreement with the state (out of twenty-on) within urban development politics.71 The project aims to emphasize the importance of equality in order to improve the conditions for economic growth and create opportunities for both genders within business and labour.72 In addition to the overall agreement, there are four supplementary agreements between the city of Stockholm and the local PES. These agreements deal with young adults, people who have recently arrived from foreign countries, the long-term unemployed and people in workplace training.73 The agreements regulate conditions, responsibility, aim of the cooperation, etc. In general, the municipalities find that there is too little dialogue with the PES and that the chances of influencing the local setting is too small, which is one reason for greater municipal involvement in labour market policy.

68 Hedblom Agneta, ibid 69 Lundin Martin, Ibid. 70 Lundin Martin, Ibid. 71 Arbetsförmedlingen, Projektplan Utrikesfödda kvinnor i utanförskap, 2009 72 Regeringsbeslut, Arbetsmarknadsdepartementet, Uppdrag i fråga om utanförskap bland utrikes födda kvinnor: A 2009/1763/AE 73 Agreement, Dnr 2.7-0146/2009 between the Social Welfare and Labour market Administration and PES 18

4.1.6 Commissioning and quality management

As mentioned before, labour market policy is a national task, but, for a variety of reasons, municipalities have become increasingly involved. National programmes largely steer the regulations/conditions of labour market actions, which, in reality, are often provided by municipalities or private providers in cooperation with the local PES. According to the municipalities, there has been a trend towards more centralized commissioning and less adaptation to the local context. There have been few analyses and follow-ups to measure the results of municipal programmes for the unemployed. Stockholm is now carrying out a serious evaluation of Jobbtorg, which is a unique effort. The studies that have been conducted tend to show that municipal programmes perform as planned but are less effective than national ones. One possible interpretation could be bad design from the start or a target group so far from the labour market that no visible effects could be expected. It is interesting to study the role of the municipality within the labour field, as the effects and deeper analysis are missing.74 Specific work methods are generally reviewed in evaluations of effects. The average impact of broad activity categories is measured however. There are, for example, evaluations claiming good effects from labour market educations, though very little is known about which concrete working methods function well.75

4.1.7 Local practices and use of ESF

One indication of higher municipal commitment is that the proportion of municipalities with a special unit for labour issues rose from 20 to 70 per cent between 1995 and 1998.76 The biggest local practice in Stockholm is Jobbtorg (see 4.2). Jobbtorg organizes labour market activities. The city also acts as an employer. In 2010, the city will provide 1 400 workplace training sessions through, for example, the programme Lyft (mentioned in Chapter 2). This national programme will probably lead to an agreement at local level between the PES and the city of Stockholm. The implementation will follow the same structure as similar programmes in the past.

A new possibility for Swedish municipalities to work actively with activation was to apply for financing from the ESF when Sweden became part of the EU in 1995. One project to help the migrant group is Etablering Stockholm (Establishment Stockholm). It is a cooperation project between the city of Stockholm and the PES. Other partners are the Red Cross, the Study Promotion Association, the Swedish Federation of Business Owners, the Migration Board, unions and a number of educational companies. The main aim is to shorten the establishment of new arrivals on the labour market. The project, which started in 2009 and will end in 2012, is funded by the ESF.77 Another project, Språkstöd för nyanlända (language support for newcomers), aims to start a training session quickly in a workplace with continued help from language

74 Lundin Martin, Ibid. 75 Liljeberg Linus, Lundin Martin, IFAU: Jobbnätet ger jobb: effekter av intensifierade arbetsförmedlingsinsatser för att bryta långtidsarbetslöshet, Rapport 2010:2 76 Lundin Martin, Ibid. 77 http://www.stockholm.se/Arbete/Etablering-Stockholm/ 19

supporters. The project is financed by the European Refugee Fund.78 Stockholm is also a partner in two other projects financed by the Refugee fund, Samhällsorientering i samverkan (civic training/introduction for newcomers, regional cooperation) and Hälsokommunikatörer i Stockholms län (bilingual health communicators for newcomers). One private initiative, Blatteförmedlingen, is a diversity job centre that helps people from other countries find work and lobbies for a more diversified labour market. 79 One local project, Filur, aims to establish young people on the labour market. It is financed by the ESF. One advance planning project, Merit, also financed by the ESF, works with outreach work to capture unemployed youngsters. The ALFA project in Stockholm, financed by the ESF, tries to link persons with mental disabilities to studies, training and employment through individual guidance (in the municipality and at private providers). The initiative originated from user organizations. Cooperating actors are the PES, the NSIS, two user organizations, Stockholm County Council, another municipality and Stockholm.

4.2 Services

4.2.1 Education to work

There are three education paths specifically for groups with difficulties on the labour market: - Secondary education: the municipality is responsible for upper secondary school. In Stockholm, there has been a high increase in ‘independent schools’, especially in the field of vocational training. The municipality is still responsible for monitoring and evaluation. - Adult education: the municipality is responsible for this education. It has decreased in the past ten years due to a decrease in state funding, but the funding is now increasing again.80 - Labour market education: organized and procured, but not performed, by the PES. The availability of this education has decreased recently. Evaluations show that education within certain fields, such as transport, health and care, have been successful.81 The demand by some groups for labour market education is less today, as some of the unemployed receive education through their job security/transition agreement (mentioned in 2b)82. Strategically, the decrease in labour market education is a matter of steering more people towards the regular education system.83 With regard to the regular education system, the amount of vocational training is quite low compared with some other countries, and according to the political discussions over the past few years, more vocational training is needed. A trial reform (2007:1349) of vocational training at upper secondary school level was therefore introduced in 2008 to increase the amount of vocational training.84 A national committee follows and supports the reform.85 Six municipal upper secondary

78 Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration, Sammanfattande årsrapport Jobbtorg, 2009 79 www.blatteformedlingen.se 80 www.skolverket.se 81Arbetsförmedlingen, Arbetsmarknadsutbildning 2005 och 2006 – uppföljning av deltagare som slutat arbetsmarknadsutbildning andra kvartalen 2005 och 2006, Ura 2008:1 82 Olofsson Jonas, En mer segmenterad arbetsmarknad – nya förutsättningar för arbetsmarknadspolitiken, 2008 83 KY-utbildningar, Vuxenutbildning, Yrkesvux etc. 84 Olofsson Jonas, Panican Alexandra, Pettersson Lars, Righard Erica, Ibid. 85 http://www.nationellalarlingskommitten.se/ 20

schools in Stockholm run education with vocational training for 110 students (2010). A further 100- 300 students are also in education with vocational training in independent schools. A local promoter of more vocational training is Stockholm Hantverksförening (association for craft professionals), which lobbies for better conditions for professions and small enterprises. The association has started a school with vocational training for upper secondary school students and adult education.86

Training/retraining

The main aim of all municipal labour activities is to find work fast. Real contact with the labour market is therefore crucial. Most of the actions taken are work experience placements combined with other help that is needed. Current training sessions tend to be in a workplace and be of a practical nature rather than educational and theoretical.

4.2.2 Concrete action at local level in Sweden

The attachment lists currently available national labour instruments. As regulations and programmes change constantly, these instruments are not presented in detail. Instead, the report presents three clear trends in recent years in terms of employment action: - Matching - Personalization/coaching -Diversification of providers

Matching

As mentioned before, the unemployment rate rose in the 1990s, and a higher rate persisted despite several years of economic growth. One explanation could be structural problems on the labour market with, for instance, a worse match between the unemployed and vacancies. The Swedish labour market has been quite fragmented from the end of the 1990s crisis until the current one, with a growing demand for labour and a big proportion of the population still excluded from the labour market. The situation described is probably one reason for a strong trend of matching. Aranki & Löf use a model to calculate matching efficiency in different regions. Unlike studies in other countries, the result shows that efficiency is lower in densely populated areas such as the Stockholm and Göteborg regions.87 The jobseeker and employer need to find each other. This can be a complicated process, and there are several reasons why this meeting may not happen: - lack of information on vacancies and candidates

- lack of expected professional skills among candidates

- geographical imbalance between vacancies and candidates

- lack of coherence between the wage level and the productivity of the unemployed

There is always a lack of coherence between the supply of labour and current demand: a mismatch

86 http://www.hantverksakademin.se/ 87 Aranki Ted & Löf Mårten, Matchningsprocessen på den svenska arbetsmarknaden: En regional analys, 2008

21

occurs. A low level of unemployment exists in all well-functioning markets. One study indicates that a lack of information is not a problem in Sweden, but rather that a long matching process is due to the right competence not being available.88 The matching trend can appear a little contradictory, as many clients at the Social Welfare Department are not ready to be matched.

Personalization/coaching

There is a trend of personalization in Swedish society as a whole. When it comes to employment activities, one way of individualizing is to offer the jobseeker a personal coach. Nowadays, all the actors within the labour market field generally work with job coaches. The definition of a job coach is vague. Thorén is critical in her thesis when she examines two activation projects (one in the city of Stockholm). According to Thorén, the job coaches often have shorter and less suitable education than the social workers.89 In the municipal programmes, there is growing personalization and differentiation due to greater insight into the heterogeneity of the target groups.

Diversification of providers

With regard to public services in general, there is a growing trend of freedom to choose. The PES works in cooperation with several jobseeking agencies. The PES was given a mission by the Government to offer jobseekers a range of different providers and methods, leading to a huge procurement process in 2009. Stockholm has also concluded agreements with 16 companies and organizations. These providers offer a range of services to different target groups, such as preparatory labour initiatives and job training. The supply of private actors is largely an urban phenomenon.90

4.2.3 Concrete actions in Stockholm

The Labour Market Administration in the city of Stockholm is responsible for Jobbtorg, START, Rekryteringsprogrammet (Recruitment Programme) and Swedish for Immigrants (SFI). Jobbtorg The city budget for 2008 stated that everyone should be guaranteed a job. In reality, all receivers of social assistance due to unemployment or refugees who are capable of working should be guaranteed an individual assessment and an activity plan, work or other measures within five days. In order to meet the mentioned goal, Jobbtorg was implemented in January 2008. The target groups for the service are the unemployed with social assistance, refugees, unemployed youth (16- 24-year-olds) and immigrants studying Swedish with social assistance or introduction benefit. In

88 LO: Westerlund Lena, En svår match – om vägval i förmedling av job och aktiva program, 2007 89 Thorén Katarina H, Ibid. 90 LO Westerlund Lena, Ibid. 22

Stockholm, all participants in municipal labour market activities are registered at Jobbtorg (11 297 in 2009).91 The number of repeat registrations increased during the economic downturn, as some people who had found work earlier lost their jobs.92 In 2009, more than two thousands young jobseekers (18-24-year-olds) were registered, which is more than in 2008. In this group, 46 per cent are closed cases within three months, while 24 per cent are still registered after a year.93 About half of the registered youngsters are dropouts from secondary school.

There are seven Jobbtorg offices in the city, one of which specializes in the young unemployed. There are also several projects for unemployed youngsters financed by the ESF. These projects and all the labour market activities are organized within Jobbtorg, which is supposed to create a manageable whole. Every applicant is unique in terms of life situation (former experiences, skills, etc.). It is therefore hard to describe the methods used, as the process is individualized. The cooperation between applicants and a whole range of different vocational teams has a dynamic element. An example of what a simplified, typical case could look like: - A social worker refers an applicant to the local Jobbtorg. - The applicant is given a personal coach. Together they create a job plan (What can I do? What skills do I have?). The job plan describes a chain of activities aimed at leading to a job. - The job of the matcher is to find suitable jobs or work experience placements. Sometimes contact with employers is already established. - The applicant, coach and matcher now form a kind of team working towards a collective target, cooperating with IT educationalists and study and vocational advisors. - Various activities are also on offer via agreed external organizations, sometimes in combination with SFI studies. At the same time, the applicant is registered at the PES with which Jobbtorg is cooperating. - When the team finds jobs/work experience sessions, a standard recruitment begins.94 The staff has different skills: the personal coach is a social worker (university level), and the matcher has long experience and many contacts from the business sphere. Jobbtorg has higher staffing than the PES, which uses personal budgets for clients. Jobbtorg also organizes recruitment fairs for employers. The work ability of about half of the social assistance recipients is too low for them to be registered at Jobbtorg. According to the social services assessment, this group needs more support to approach the labour market. The group is hard to reach as it is difficult to design effective actions, and they need a great deal of time. The activities offered to this group to increase its ability, motivation and competence depend on the problems in question. The personal coach at Jobbtorg is meant to function as a case manager throughout the process to enter the labour market. The process can include many different needs before the person is ready and prepared to start working. Results from Jobbtorg show that 43 per cent of the registered cases were closed in 2009 as they found work, began to study, started in a public programme or for other reasons. The follow-up

91 Social Services and Labour Market Administration, internal statistics, 2009 92 Social Services and Labour Market Administration, Flying start, 2009 93 Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration, internal statistics, 2009 94 Flying start, Ibid. 23

is linked to the social assistance system and is controlled monthly.95 The opinion from the city is that, in some cases, Jobbtorg has better results than the programmes at the PES, though there are no evaluation results for comparisons.

START

START is aimed at social assistance receivers who are unable to work or search for work for various reasons. They are often uncertain about their own circumstances with regard to starting work. The aim of START is for the client to have the opportunity to try working in sheltered employment together with support from the staff that looks at opportunities to improve and enhance his/her work ability. START receives clients through a contact at the district administration, Jobbtorg or the National Insurance Service.

Rekryteringsprogrammet (Recruitment Programme)

The programme started as a project to recruit refugees and immigrants to the care service for the elderly and disabled in the city in 2000. Nowadays, it is a regular unit within the Labour Market Administration and works towards local business life. The aim of the programme is to increase the employment rate among refugees and immigrants (recruited from Jobbtorg), improve integration, reduce the costs for social assistance and help employers find the right labour. There are three steps in the programme: preparatory education (practical Swedish and general professional skills), training education (designed together with the employers) and training in the workplace (personal coach available 24 hours a day). An educational and technical tool that is used is the Open College Network (OCN)96 method, which secures quality and validates knowledge outside the regular school system. The content of the programme is not unique to labour market activities in general, but the results have been unusually successful: 75-80 per cent end up in employment after a maximum of 6 months. Between 2000 and 2009, 1 250 persons found a job. According to the manager, the reasons for the good results are that the work is on the employers’ terms and that it is considered more from a business perspective than that of social welfare. The manager advertises the opportunity of finding good subsidized labour through national programmes with coaches taking full responsibility for the training period working well. Quality is crucial for the employer and the jobseeker. The focus is on practical professions: cleaning, home services and shop work. One fact is that the programme retrains persons to quite a great extent, for example, in a survey, about one third of the respondents worked in their home countries in administrational and educational professions. A conscious strategy is to send out a message to the participants with a short-term plan: how to be self-supportive now, and a future plan: what I would like to do on a long–term basis. The mentioned evaluation also indicates that, in principle, everyone feels that the most important aspect of work is to HAVE a job.97

95 Social Services and Labour Market Administration, internal statistics, 2009 96 www.ocn.se 97 Boman Jan & Blondin Magnus, Vägen till anställningsbarhet Rekryteringsprogrammet i Stockholm stad, 2009 24

Swedish for immigrants

The city is obligated, on behalf of the state, to offer Swedish for immigrants, which the immigrant has a right to receive. The course is intended for persons over the age of 16 who are registered in Stockholm with a residence and work permit. There are different professional orientations and opportunities to participate during the day or evening for 15-20 hours per week. The city has also started to offer quick communication courses (no grammar) to help newcomers to gain fast entry to the language. The courses are procured from Swedish for immigrant schools or other providers.

4.2.4 Supported employment

A placement within the municipal organization: Offentlig skyddad anställning (OSA, sheltered employment within the public sector) is partly state financed. These placements are normally on a fairly long-term basis for clients with psycho-social problems. Stockholm has about 250 OSAs. Stockholm also offers supported employment for young people (100 training sessions in 2010) as the economic situation makes it hard for young people to enter the labour market.

Problems and challenges:

• The employment activities focus on matching rather than education • Constant changes to national rules and conditions for conducting labour market activities at local level • The division of competence according to the type of benefit the client receives can lead to unequal treatment of clients.98

98 Some researchers are critical of the division between national and local activities for the unemployed. They feel that national programmes are often more developed and of an educational nature that leads to better opportunities for the jobseeker. The municipal efforts focus more on activation, and less on education and a direct match to the labour market. R. Ulmestig therefore states that the current policy creates an A and a B team of jobseekers in Sweden. One contradictory aspect is that the B team (people on social assistance) is in most need of effective programmes. Another criticism is that unemployed social assistance recipients are treated differently between municipalities. Ulmestig questions whether it is still accurate to talk about a central labour market policy in Sweden (Ulmestig Richard, På gränsen till fattigvård. En studie om arbetsmarknadspolitik och socialbidrag, 2007). 25

5. Conclusions/Strengths and challenges

This chapter elaborates conclusions, strengths and challenges within the labour market policy field. Each section begins with a problem presented earlier in the report. The remaining problems and challenges from the report will be developed in Chapter 6.

Activation and education policy

- The employment activities focus on matching rather than education Nowadays, the labour market activities focus largely on matching and coaching towards an opportunity to work. In most cases, education is not an acceptable measure. It is not clear where education belongs in the active inclusion strategy and, in this sense, the local level in Sweden acts according to the strategy. One risk when the educational and retraining paths have minimal room is a situation with a labour shortage within certain sectors yet with high unemployment for vulnerable groups. Nonetheless, it is the Job first/Job directly/Job now paradigm that rules and has been the case for quite some time. Perhaps it would be good if the trend were completed with education. One strength is to work constantly with activation programmes in order to avoid passive unemployed persons. One challenge is to broaden the toolbox to avoid the long-term unemployed participating in programme after programme and to satisfy the employer’s need for skilled labour. The right skilled labour is also crucial to preserving the welfare system, as the population is ageing.

Young people

- Risk that a high unemployment rate among young people leads to long-term exclusion At the national seminar, a big part of the discussion concerned young people who were excluded from the labour market. One strength is that Jobbtorg puts much effort into this target group, with a special office for youth and several ESF projects. As half of the young registered at Jobbtorg have finished upper secondary school without qualifications, the educational aspect is central. As primary and upper secondary education is one of the core missions of a Swedish municipality, it should be an urgent, preventive task to minimize dropouts from school. One challenge could be to develop new methods in cooperation between the Social Welfare Administration and the Educational Administration in order to retain unmotivated pupils. Reducing dropouts from school would be one of the most effective preventive measures for reducing unemployment among young people. Other measures could be more training integrated into the education system. Mentor programmes could be used to create a link between the labour market and school already in primary school. Instructions are needed for municipal follow-up responsibility: different municipalities act in different ways to follow up inactive youth.

Cooperation with local business

- Need of further coordination with local employers to stimulate jobs for vulnerable groups

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A strength in Stockholm is developed cooperation within the Recruitment Programme and at Jobbtorg, but there is still a need to continue working together with local employers to adapt skills better and gain a deeper understanding of the employers’ needs.

There have been no recent, general efforts in Stockholm with an anti-discrimination focus. All the activities are oriented more towards the problems and opportunities of the individual. In the city, the strategic dimension of integration is that it should be part of all policy fields. The risk is that no service takes responsibility for this fairly comprehensive and broad question of discrimination on the labour market. As Jobbtorg can see that some pre-trained and prepared participants still do not succeed in getting a job, there is a challenge to create a bridge for these people through better cooperation with the local businesses and employers.

Insider – outsider

- The division of competence according to the type of benefit the client receives can lead to unequal treatment of clients In Stockholm, some of the criticism from Richard Ulmestig is not relevant as Jobbtorg allows the participants to be registered at both the municipal employment service and the local PES. Jobbtorg has also increasingly concentrated on a direct match between the individual and the labour market instead of carrying on with ongoing activation programmes. Nonetheless, it is important to be aware of the fact that the division between the PES and the municipality probably creates an A and a B team.

The whole welfare policy structure is in fact dual. Those with a stable position on the labour market experience a high level of social security. This structure creates a kind of insider-outsider relationship. Some examples of advantages for the insider are: - Lagen om anställningsskydd (LAS, Employment Protection Act) the law on ‘last in, first out’ - Job security system: some employees are covered by support through their security system in case they lose their job. They can receive education and coaching at no cost through the agreement that the employer has concluded. This support can displace other groups and favour those already in a position on the labour market. - Insurance to top up loss of income in case of unemployment: there is a trend for unions to offer special insurance solutions for their members, which is an advantage for the insider.

The outsiders, on the other hand, are the unemployed, part-time workers and those on trial and time-fixed employment. One challenge is to create conditions for outsiders to compensate, to some extent, for the disadvantages they face. A challenge could be to initiate new methods in segregated areas to ameliorate the situation for people excluded from the labour market. There is a risk that the ‘insider-outsider phenomenon’ establishes long-term conditions that are very dangerous, as long-term exclusion becomes extremely costly for both society and the individual. One possible way to compensate outsiders could be to create ‘economic free zones’ (less employer contributions and tax for business) in segregated areas, as implemented in some French cities.

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6. EU common principles and recommendations

In the context of the active inclusion strategy, the EU has laid down a number of collective principles as a starting point for access to services of good quality. EUROCITIES-NLAO is testing their relevance to local active inclusion policies. The following chapter presents the remaining problems and challenges raised in the report, structured around the quality principles. Recommendations are presented based on the investigation data and the discussions at the seminar involving experts and stakeholders in the field (not formulated by politicians). They are based on the Swedish context in Stockholm and will be used at local level, where the report will be presented to the Social Services Committee. They will also be used at European level where EUROCITIES will incorporate them into a comparative analysis based on the reports by all five partner cities.

1. Territorial availability, physical accessibility, affordability

From a national perspective, there is a big difference between what municipalities offer as employment activities. As labour market policy is not a municipal task, it is up to each local authority to act. The national programmes from the PES, on the other hand, should be provided in the same manner all over Sweden. In Stockholm, the Jobbtorg service has seven offices for access by inhabitants all over the city. All the spaces are adapted for persons with physical disabilities, and the service is free. According to evaluations, there are big differences between the provisions by municipalities of vocational training, and the way it is designed and perceived (status). Monitoring and information responsibilities of young people are dealt with in different ways. Supporting activities for vulnerable youngsters (nature and extent) also vary much locally.99

2. Solidarity, equal opportunities for service users and employees, and due account for diversity of users

The services always strive for equal opportunities. The staff at Jobbtorg tries to reflect the diversity of users, but it is not always easy to ensure complete equality under a heavy workload. Information material is provided in four languages.

- Not all unemployed persons have access to the programmes at the Public Employment Service as the client must be considered “to be available for the labour market” It is a matter of solidarity to offer all unemployed persons the same service and access to all available tools. Jobbtorg encourages the jobseeker to register at the PES as well, which can create some overlap (two individual plans). On the other hand, the client does not miss any opportunities.

99 Olofsson Jonas, Panican Alexandru, Pettersson Lars, Righard Erica, Ungdomars övergång från skola till arbetsliv – aktuella utmaningar och lokala erfarenheter, 2009

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Recommendation: Combat long-term exclusion from the labour market by prioritizing the long-term unemployed in the provision of employment and training services.

3. Investment in human capital, working conditions, and adequate physical infrastructure

The competence policy at Jobbtorg is clear and concise. The skills demanded at Jobbtorg are higher than they used to be when a similar programme was criticized by the researcher K. Thorén100. The job coaches should have a university degree in social or behavioural science, and professional guides should have one in counselling (teacher’s university). Matchers are more practically oriented with a well-developed network and contacts in local business. There is continuous exchange of experiences by interdisciplinary teams between Jobbtorg offices.

- Constant changes to national rules and conditions for conducting labour market activities at local level It is confusing and frustrating for the staff when conditions in national programmes constantly change. The interventions do, of course, have to be flexible, though there are often only a few minor changes, and adjustments do still need to be carried out.

Recommendation: Develop more initiatives to achieve long-term, focused programmes, especially, for the long-term unemployed combined with small flexible interventions.

4. Comprehensive and coordinated services, conceived and delivered in an integrated manner

Jobbtorg is an example of different skills and providers in the same structure, but there is still a need for further developed, coordinated services between authorities and within local business.

- Lack of consistent and coherent, coordinated responsibility, partially overlapping areas of responsibility and overlapping target groups

Recommendations: Develop further coordination between the city and the local PES office.

100 Thorén K, Ibid. 29

Increase the scope for local adaptation in national regulations. Greater municipal involvement to develop entrepreneurship, such as Social Enterprises.

5. Users’ involvement and personalized approaches to meet the multiple needs of people as individuals

The Jobbtorg staff tries to involve the user in the choice of programme/provider, but the conditionality of social assistance is sometimes a problem. There is a requirement to participate.

Recommendations: Implement more user involvement, especially among young people, with a preventive aim. Allow for greater financial coordination with priority for young people, in order to offer more integrated services. Increase the possibility of guidance without registration, especially for young people.

6. Monitoring and performance evaluation and sharing of best practice

Jobbtorg evaluates the results, but there has been a lack of follow-up by municipal labour market programmes. There are opportunities around Sweden to share best practice at conferences and on study visits.

- Lack of efforts to increase work ability and reach non-working immigrant women

Recommendations: Enable more sharing of best practice. Enable more knowledge sharing within the EU on social enterprising.

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List of references Written sources

Aranki Ted & Löf Mårten (2008) Matchningsprocessen på den svenska arbetsmarknaden, Article in Penning och Valutapolitik 1/2008 Boman John & Blondin Magnus (2009:01) Vägen till anställningsbarhet, Linköpings Universitet Bonoli Giuliano (2010) The political economy of active labour market policy, Working paper PUDIAC Esping-Andersen G (1990) Three worlds of welfare capitalism, Cambridge: The Polity Press Hedblom Agneta (2004) Aktiveringspolitikens Janusansikte, Socialhögskolan Lund Hjertner Thorén Katarina (2008) Activation Policy in Action: A street level Study of Social Assistance in the Swedish Welfare State, Växjö University Press Johansson Håkan (2001) I det sociala medborgarskapets skugga, Arkiv förlag Lund Johansson Håkan & Horneman Moller Iver (2009) Aktivering, Liber Malmö Olofsson Jonas (2008) En mer segmenterad arbetsmarknad – nya förutsättningar för arbetsmarknaden, Socialhögskolan Lund Olofsson Jonas & Wadensjö Eskil (2005) Arbetslöshet, SNS Förlag Olofsson Jonas, Panican Alexandru, Pettersson Lars, Righard Erica (2009) Ungdomars övergång från skola till arbetsliv – aktuella utmaningar och lokala erfarenheter, Media Tryck Lund University Salonen Tapio & Ulmestig Rickhard (2004) Det nedersta trappsteget, Växjö Universitet Ulmestig Richard (2007) På gränsen till fattigvård, En studie om arbetsmarknadspolitik och socialbidrag, Växjö University Press

Arbetsförmedlingen (Swedish PES)

(2008) Arbetsmarknadsutbildning 2005 och 2006 – uppföljning av deltagare som slutat arbetsmarknadsutbildning andra kvartalen 2005 och 2006 (2009) Prognos, Arbetsmarknad Stockholms län (2009) Projektplan, Utrikesfödda kvinnor i utanförskap (2010) Faktablad om jobb och utvecklingsgarantin

Brottsförebyggande Rådet (Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention)

(2009:21) Sysselsättning under och efter fängelsestraff

European Commission

Recommendation on the active inclusion of people excluded from the labour market, 3 October 2008

Finansdepartementet (Ministry of Finance)

(2006) Svensk aktiveringspolitik i nordiskt perspektiv

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Forskningsrådet för Arbetsliv och Socialvetenskap (Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research)

(2007) Ungdomar, utbildning och arbetsmarknad i Norden – lika men ändå olika

IFAU (Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation)

(2006) Hur hjälps ungdomar av arbetsmarknadspolitiska program för unga (2008:9) Arbetsförmedlingens arbete med nystartsjobben (2008:13) Kommunerna och arbetsmarknadspolitiken (2009:4) Fattigdom i folkhemmet – från socialbidrag till självförsörjning (2010:2) Jobbnätet ger jobb: effekter av intensifierade arbetsförmedlingsinsatser för att bryta långtidsarbetslöshet.

The Government

2009/10:60 Nyanlända invandrares arbetsmarknadsetablering – egenansvar med professionellt stöd

LO (Swedish Trade Union Confederation)

(2007) En svår match – om vägval i förmedling av jobb och aktiva program (2008) Etnisk diskriminering i arbetslivet – kunskapsläge och kunskapsbehov (2009) Nitton diagram om ungas arbetslöshet

Skolverket (National Swedish Agency for Education)

(2008) Studieresultat I gymnasieskolan – en statistisk beskrivning av ofullständiga gymnasiebetyg

Stockholms stad (City of Stockholm)

(2009) Budget 2009-2011 (2009) Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration, Sammanfattande årsrapport (2009) Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration, Internal statistics (2009) Stockholm City Office for Research and Statistics, Månadsinformation, Ekonomiskt bistånd samt introduktionsersättning

Ungdomsstyrelsen (Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs)

(2006:6) Arbetsmarknadssatsningen – att bryta ungdomars utanförskap på arbetsmarknaden

Newspaper articles

Dagens Nyheter, Långtidsarbetslösheten har nästan fördubblats på ett år visar siffror från Statistiska Centralbyrån (SCB), 05/11/2009

Laws

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Lag (1976:580) om medbestämmande i arbetslivet (MBL) Lagen om anställningsskydd (LAS 1982:80) Lag om finansiell samordning (2003:1210) Socialtjänstlagen (SOL 2001:453)

Internet

City of Stockholm: www.stockholm.se Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKL): www.skl.se Social Insurance Service: www.forsakringskassan.se Stockholm City Office for Research and Statistics: www.uskab.se Security Board: www.trr.se Job Security Foundation: www.trygghetsstiftelsen.se Statistics Sweden (SCB): www.scb.se The Government: www.regeringen.se www.blatteformedlingen.se Public Employment Service: www.arbetsformedlingen.se www.hantverksakademin.se

Interviews

Maggie Örjansberg, NSIS Jesper Ackinger, Stockholm Business Region Karin Perols, Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration, City of Stockholm Magnus Axell, Recruitment Programme, City of Stockholm

Reference group: Lena Thorson, Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration in the City of Stockholm Olof Öhman, City of Stockholm Susanne Tengberg, Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration in the City of Stockholm Tina Heinsoo, Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration in the City of Stockholm

Group Interview with researchers

Katharina Thorén, Växjö University Tomas Korpi, Sofi, Stockholm University Alexandru Panican, Lund University Christina Axelsson, Södertörn University

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Expert group (three meetings: validation of report)

Tor Hatlevoll, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions Berndt Molin/Björn Sergel, Public Employment Service Ingrid Jonasson, National Board of Health and Welfare Kicki Wattjersson, Jobbtorg City of Stockholm Stefan Johansson, Verdandi (NGO)

Participants at the national seminar

Katharina Thorén, Växjö University Mossa Ansara, Immigrant Association Pia Hellberg-Lannerheim, City of Malmö Jesper Theander, City of Malmö Renate Minas, Institute for Future Studies Jan Forslund, Coompanion (NGO) Vivi Jacobson Liebietis, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions Susanne Zander, Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs Eva Franzén, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs Alexandru Panican, Lund University Olof Öhman, City of Stockholm Paula Jonsson, Discrimination Ombudsmen Daniel Uppström, County of Stockholm Ingrid Jonasson, National Board of Health and Welfare Per Skoog, PES Gerd Wahlstedt, PES Jonnie Svensson, Blatteförmedlingen (Private company) Anke Thiel, EUROCITIES

Social Welfare and Labour Market Administration in the City of Stockholm Anki Garces Helene Bengtson Marina Vershovsky Susanne Tengberg Karin Eriksson Bech Anna Mattsson Maria Andersson Christina Grönberg

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Attachment

Existing instruments/programmes in the employment field

Information and guidance on entering the labour market • Job coach: apply at the local PES office • Job and development guarantee: (PES) individually designed measures, coaching • Preparatory measures: (PES) individual guidance, max 6 months, from 25 years old

Counselling and training to improve a person’s employability and competitiveness • Training (at a workplace, trial period, professional and practical training) with support to the employer from PES (max 6 months, full time with tutoring) • Employment training organized by PES for 6 months • Entry job: for newly arrived immigrants (after 36-month permit to stay) • Employers: 75% in benefits, link to Swedish For Immigrants (SFI) studies • KY courses: conducted by municipalities, county councils and private contractors (2001:239), with state funding

Creation of jobs and support for the social economy and self-employment • Micro-credits: exists, but rare in Sweden • Start-up support and business advice: exists at different levels with different financing. ‘Jobs and society’ offers counselling (municipal funding or/and sponsorship) • PES: counselling (from 25 years old), also financial assistance to the person for 6 months if PES believes in the business plan • The Swedish Tax Agency, together with five other authorities, organizes ‘start-up days’ • Marketing courses: sometimes in start-up education; see above • Social enterprises (not very well developed in Sweden, about 170 enterprises with about 5 000 employees)

Prevention of unemployment through in-work support and sheltered employment • Projects within the European Social Fund

Sheltered and public employment • Special support to employ: maximum 12 months to an employer that hires someone under the job and development guarantee (85% of wage costs from PES) • Introduction (2007:927) support: to the employee and employer at the beginning of the employment • Samhall: sheltered employment (18 000 employees) previously for industrial jobs, now more for service and maintenance work • OSA: public employment for the disabled • Wage compensation: to employers who hire persons with reduced work ability • SIUS: individual support to the disadvantaged • Development recruitment: 12 months for persons with disabilities • Safe employment, as opposed to wage compensation, may last for 4 years and then be resubmitted for a new period

The EUROCITIES – Network of Local Authority Observatories on Active Inclusion (EUROCITIES – NLAO) is a network of five European cities – Bologna, Prague, Rotterdam, Southampton and Stockholm - which have established local observatories within their administrations to carry out research on the implementation of active inclusion policies at the local level.

From March 2009 to August 2010, the observatories delivered a series of national and European reports on supporting Active Inclusion through social & supported housing-related services and employment & training services. The EUROCTIES-NLAO will continue with an enlarged network of 10 cities From September 2010 onwards.

The project is coordinated by EUROCITIES, the network of major cities in Europe, and co-funded by DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities under the PROGRESS programme.

All reports as well as news on other project outputs are available at www.eurocities-nlao.eu

This publication is supported under the European Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS 2007-2013). The information contained in this publication does not reflect the opinion of the European Commission, and all responsibility for the content rests with the authors.