prop · GX0334en · 2009-10-21 00:00:00 — From a national perspective, it is important to understand that a great many of the young people defined as unemployed are full-time students looking for work and who primarily consider themselves to be students. During the second quarter of 2009, 45.5 per cent of unemployed young people aged 1524 were full-time students. Another important aspect that should be highlighted is the duration of unemployment. When one talks of the impact of unemployment on the individual as well as society, one is most often referring to long-term unemployment since it is the most deleterious and most in need of remedy. Short-term unemployment is less worrisome as individuals change employment and it may take a time to find the right job. The distinction between long-term and short-term unemployment is particularly important when speaking of young people. They use trial and error in the labour market more than adults do, which means they change jobs more often (between studies and jobs or between different jobs), which in turn implies more short unemployment spells between various jobs. statistics for 2008 show that unemployed Swedish young people had much shorter unemployment spells than young people in other countries; see Figure 3. Duration of unemployment for young people aged 1524, 2008 Fifty per cent of unemployed young people (48.5 per cent of men and 52.1 per cent of women) were unemployed for less than a month, compared with 24.8 per cent for the entire and 14.7 for the EU15. Only 11.2 per cent of unemployed young people (there was no significant difference between men and women) were unemployed longer than 6 months, compared with 27.5 per cent for the and 41.2 per cent for the EU15. If one looks at the very long-term unemployment (longer than one year), statistics show that only 3.5 per cent of unemployed young people in (3.9 per cent of men and 3.1 per cent of women) were unemployed longer than one year in 2008, compared with 15.6 per cent for the and 23.6 for the EU15. Statistics from Statistics (second quarter 2009) show that 46 per cent of unemployed young people aged 1524 were unemployed 4 weeks or less and that 13 per cent were unemployed longer than 26 weeks. There are still no comparable international statistics for this period. Implementation of Youth Pact In 2009 the Government has continued to focus sharply on education initiatives and measures aimed at supporting young people's in the labour market and reducing youth unemployment. As in previous years, measures in accordance with the goals of Youth Pact can be found in Guidelines 1415 and 1724. In 2008 had the remit to conduct an analysis of young people's living conditions in a number of areas of social exclusion, with a particular focus on young people's education and jobs. In 2009 is expanding this analysis in a new study on young people in areas of social exclusion. This time public authorities will draw attention to good examples from selected EU countries of initiatives and ways of working aimed at fighting youth exclusion. In addition, has a remit to conduct a study highlighting the methods whereby municipalities, in cooperation with other actors, can support young people between the ages of 16 and 25 who neither work nor study to enter the labour market or resume their studies. is to provide information on how different municipalities organise and finance these activities and the focus here is also to be on drawing attention to good examples. In autumn the Government intends to present a youth policy strategy. The strategy's aim is to report on the direction of youth policy and on an action plan with measures addressing high priorities in youth policy. During the Swedish Presidency of the EU in autumn , a decision on a new framework for youth policy cooperation in the EU for 20102018 is planned. The Youth Pact and its future are an important part of these discussions. Equal opportunities for women and men in the labour market Labour force participation by women in is among the highest in the world, but it is nevertheless lower than for men. 68.3 per cent of the women and 74 per cent of the men aged 1574. Women and men are unevenly represented in various sectors, industries, occupations, executive positions and forms of enterprise. In 2008, 51 per cent of women worked in the private sector and 49 per cent in the public sector, while 82 per cent of men worked in the private sector and 18 per cent in the public sector. Average pay is generally higher in male- dominated occupations than in female-dominated occupations. pay is on average 16 per cent lower than men's, as it has been in recent years, according to Statistics 's labour force surveys. monthly pay is adjusted for occupation, age, education and working hours 'standard weighting' women's monthly pay came to just over 93 per cent of men's in 2008. The remaining difference, almost 7 per cent, may be due to reasonable pay differences explained by factors that are not included in the model used, for example, supervisory responsibility and experience or to discrimination against women. men are on long-term sick leave, collect sickness and activity compensation or are part-time unemployed. women than men have temporary employment or work part-time. Women are absent from the workplace caring for children or the elderly to a greater extent than are The international financial crisis and the subsequent economic downturn that began in 2008 have so far followed the same pattern as they did in the 1990s crisis with respect to gender equality. crisis, male-dominated occupations were affected first. In a later phase of the crisis, female-dominated occupations were also affected and the gender difference in unemployment subsequently levelled out. in the current crisis, it is manufacturing, which is male-dominated, that has been hardest hit and a large proportion of those given dismissal notices have been men. In a later phase of the economic downturn, the public sector will likely be affected. Municipalities are major employers of women. The majority of those with temporary work are women and two out of three employed on an hourly basis are women. In 2009, the Government presented the , An Equal Labour Market the Government's Strategy for Equality in the Labour Market and the Business Sector (En jämställd arbetsmarknad regeringens strategi för jämställdhet på arbetsmarknaden och i näringslivet) (Govt. 2008/09:198) to the Riksdag. In the , the Government sets out what it believes are the most important challenges for gender equality in the labour market and in the business sector and what direction the policy should take to meet these challenges. These include counteracting the gender segregation in the labour market and the business sector and promoting gender equal terms for work and entrepreneurship. The Government intends to come back to the Riksdag in 2011 with a report on the measures that have been taken and the results obtained compared with the aims of the strategy set out in the . The follow-up to see that the initiative has not treated either gender unfairly will primarily be done within the framework of the public authorities' day-to-day activities. But there is also a need for comprehensive follow-ups of the state of the gender equality policy and policy developments. A follow-up system needs to be developed for the gender equality policy that can provide a stable basis for insight into developments. A special initiative has therefore been started in the Government Offices to ensure that the state of the gender equality policy and policy developments can be reported to the Riksdag. A comprehensive programme in line with Pact for Gender Equality Gender policy will include all policy areas and permeate all government policy. When men and women share power and influence in all aspects of society, it will be more just and democratic. Gender equality contributes to economic growth by supporting people's skills and creative powers. Since 2007, the Government has sharply increased resources for gender equality measures that have helped reduce the differences between women and men's opportunities for gainful employment, starting and running their own business, studying and earning their own livelihood. The Government wants to end the gender segregation in the labour market and the business sector. An initiative was begun in 2008 to reduce the gender differences in various parts of the education system. In 2008 the Government appointed a delegation for gender equality in schools and in 2009 a delegation for gender equality in higher education. Initiatives that improve the possibility of starting and running a business help make better use of women and men's potential. The Government has appropriated million for measures to provide greater diversity in health and care, primarily to provide training and counselling to employees who want to start their own business. Measures to increase entrepreneurship among women, including analysing regional business support and increased representation of women on company boards, have been taken. Increasing women and men's opportunities for gainful employment promotes gender equality while reducing exclusion. There are a number of initiatives to achieve this. The work-first principle is being strengthened, for example, by changes in the unemployment insurance and measures supporting labour force participation by foreign-born women. The distribution of paid and unpaid work is being evened out by such measures as the gender equality bonus and the tax reduction for household-related work. Initiatives such as opportunities to try new jobs while still on sick leave and the rehabilitation guarantee make the return to work after sick leave easier. A new anti-discrimination act and the of the Ombudsman against Discrimination improve protection from discrimination in working life. The Government has in addition given the Swedish Work Environment Authority the task of carrying out a special initiative on exposure to attack in working life. A longer working life is currently undergoing a demographic change. health, women and men in are living longer. proportion of older people in the population is rising. From 2009 to 2050, the percentage of the population over the age of 65 is expected to increase from 17 to 23 per cent, according to population statistics from To meet the challenge of an ageing population, more people need to participate actively in the labour market. worked (a higher employment rate does not necessarily mean an increase in the number of hours worked since it requires only a 1 hour job to be considered employed) in the Swedish labour market lead to better public finances, thus making it easier to fund the social welfare systems. The Government is pursuing an policy. One of its aims is to reduce exclusion among older people and and extend working life. Government's policy has led to the abolition of the special employer's contribution on earned income for workers who have turned 65 by the beginning of the year. However, the special employer's contribution is still payable on pension provisions. It is also more advantageous for employers to hire people over the age of 55 in new start jobs. workers have the right to new start jobs for double the length of time that they have been out of the labour market. Almost 26 per cent of those holding new start jobs at the end of 2009 were over the age of 55. The corresponding proportion for 2008 was close to 22 per cent. On 1 January 2009, the new anti-discrimination legislation (2008:567) entered into force. The new legislation strengthens the prohibition against age discrimination. The new law against age discrimination covers working life, the education system, labour market activities and employment services having no public contracts, the start-up and operation of a business, professional qualifications and membership in certain organisations. The Government appointed an inquiry, Strengthened Protection against (Ett stärkt skydd mot diskriminering på grund av ålder) (dir 2009:72), in 2009. The inquiry is to review how protection against age discrimination will be introduced in those parts of society except national military service and civilian service currently lacking such protection in antidiscrimination legislation. In the past decade, has experienced extensive exclusion which is primarily connected to the high level of sickness absence as seen from an international perspective. When the Government took office in October 2006, 554 000 people were receiving sickness or activity compensation. Moreover, about 80 000 people had been on sick leave for more than one year. had one of the highest sickness absence rates in the . Absences due to illness, by month, . 6 - 12 months The Government has taken a number of measures to bring about prompt action with the aim of counteracting long-term sickness absence. A rehabilitation chain with fixed time limits for testing work capacity has been introduced from 1 2008. A rehabilitation guarantee has been created, which means that those on sick leave will have better access to Measures have been taken to support the workplace-based initiatives by expanding occupational health services. County councils have allocated billion annually for health and care to improve the work with those on sick leave, the ' care billion'. insurance decision support tools for doctors and the were introduced in 2008 to provide guidelines on the sick leave periods for various diagnoses. The Government has also taken measures to make it easier to return to work after a long absence due to illness. From 1 January 2009, new rules apply to people who have been awarded a permanent sickness benefit before 2008 whereby such people may work, do volunteer work or study without having their right to sickness benefits reviewed. project where private and social firms help people on long-term sick leave return to work has been initiated and operated in 2008 and 2009. The Government has taken measures to lower the thresholds to the labour market for people with disabilities or long-term sickness absence and to encourage employers to hire people on long-term sick leave. do not have to pay sick pay for anyone who works while receiving Beginning 1 January 2010, there are plans to introduce special high risk protection for sick pay costs for people who have had Ending what was previously a very lengthy and passive sick leave that often led to permanent exclusion has been an important part of the Government's sickness insurance reform. One reform limits the period during which a person can get sickness benefits to 2.5 years. 2008, sickness compensation will only be considered if the work capacity of the insured person is permanently impaired. compensation has thus been abolished. Interim provisions apply for people who on 1 2008 collect temporary sickness benefits. temporary sickness benefits will gradually come to an end in 20102012. In 2010 about 54 000 people are expected to stop receiving sickness benefits because their entitlement will run out. intends to take measures to ensure a smooth transition to the Public and provide support and help to return to work after long-term sick leave. On 1 January 2010, the Government intends to introduce a new labour market introduction programme aimed at supporting the return to working life of those whose entitlement to sickness benefits has expired. Activity support is paid for the duration of a person's participation in the introduction programme and other labour There will, however, be people whose illness requires that they be hospitalised or receive some other form of extensive care at home or via care and are unable to return to their jobs or participate in any of the activities. people will be eligible to continue receiving benefits from the sickness insurance at the same level as before until they are well again. The Government's policy objective is a long-term stable and low level of sickness absence. With the substantial reduction in sickness absence in the last few years, the chances of achieving this goal in the future are The number of new sick leave cases will decline and sick leave periods will become shorter. This is especially true of sick leave cases that exceed six months. There has been a decrease in new sickness and activity compensation awards. They are now at approximately the same level as they were in the 1970s. The growth trend in the number of people with sickness and activity compensation has been reversed conclusively since the close of 2007 and the rate of decrease has risen and is expected to continue to rise. Sickness absence is expected to continue to decline in the next few years. The reduction in the number of new cases of sickness absence, combined with the changes in the rules that the Government has made, will lead to a continued decline, particularly with respect to the number of individuals with sickness benefits. In recent years, the regional differences in sickness absence have decreased, but the differences are still significant. The same is true of the difference between women and men, with women's absence due to illness almost twice that of men. Special measures for people with disabilities The aim of the special measures for people with disabilities that decrease their capacity to work is to reduce unemployment among these people, increase productive employment, and increase their transition to a job without support. In 2008, the rate of increase of several of these measures aimed at people with disabilities that decrease their capacity to work declined more than in the last few years. The exception is secure employment, which continued to increase. The number of participants in employment with wage subsidies has declined since 2008. Employment with a wage subsidy involves financial compensation in the form of a wage subsidy to an employer who hires a person with a reduced work capacity referred by the . In some cases, the wage subsidy may also be given for someone with a reduced work capacity who is already employed. The size of the wage subsidy is based on the wage cost for the employee and on his or her capacity to work. The decline in the number of participants is primarily due to the difficulties experienced in getting employers to hire jobseekers with a wage subsidy. Another explanation for the decline may be that new start jobs and secure employment are replacing employment with wage subsidies. Something that also could have contributed to the decline is that the and the in their joint action plan have agreed that as many participants as possible should get employment without support. Development employment is a labour market initiative that concerns work adapted for jobseekers who have disabilities that reduce their capacity to work and who need to develop skills and increase their work capacity by on-the-job training. Secure employment can be found throughout the labour market and is an alternative to sheltered jobs at , a state enterprise with the remit to provide jobs for people with disabilities that entail a reduced work capacity. The aim is to give other employers the opportunity to offer jobs adapted for people with disabilities. aimed at people whose work capacity is reduced to the extent that they need more adjustments made to their work situation and more long-term support than are provided with the wage subsidy. Public sector sheltered work aims at providing employment that features development to particular groups of people having disabilities that decrease their capacity to work. This employment is intended in the long run to lead to a job in the regular labour market. with support for people with disabilities consistently have an unequal gender distribution (60 per cent for men and 40 per cent for women), which may be compared with the total number of people registered as disabled, 55 per cent of whom are men and 46 per cent are women. The most unequal gender distribution occurs in public sheltered employment, where not quite 30 per cent are women. At the end of 2009, the percentage of those disabled with a reduced work capacity made up over 23 per cent of all those who had a new start job. This was an increase of close to 7 percentage points compared with 2008. In , as part of a review of the support for people with disabilities that reduce their capacity to work, the Government gave the for (a public authority with the mandate to provide the Government with the basis to enhance the ability of the central government administration to perform its tasks in a legally secure, effective and efficient for the benefit of the public and business) a remit to examine the issue of special support for selfemployment for this target group. The aim of potential support should be to increase this group's chances of overcoming exclusion and entering the labour market by starting and running a business. At the end of 2008, 19 400 people with disabilities were employed by the public enterprise . One of the Government's goals for is for the number of transitions from to the regular labour market to equal at least five per cent of those permanently employed by . The outcome for 2008 was 4.9 per cent, which is somewhat lower than for 2007. In spring , however, a positive trend could be discerned. In the second quarter of 2009, 339 people left for another employer, which is an increase of 168 people compared with the first quarter of 2009. Social firms are started and run to create employment opportunities and offer a working life to those who for various reasons do not enter the labour market. Social firms vary in nature. The majority of the employees in social firms are people who on account of disabilities/obstacles to work, previous addiction and abuse, criminality, long-term sick leave, longterm unemployment, homelessness or other form of social vulnerability have not had the chance to get established in the labour market or have lost contact with it. Improving integration of people born abroad. On an annualised basis, experienced positive employment growth during 20052008. In the same period, the employment rate increased more among men born abroad than among men born in . Employment among women born abroad has also increased, but the increase has not been as rapid as among women born in . Regardless of background, the employment rate is lower for women than for men and the difference in employment between women born in and women born abroad is greater than the difference between men born in and men born abroad. Employment rate, aged 1574, per cent Source: Statistics . Unemployment also fell sharply between 2005 and 2008, particularly among foreign-born men. Unemployment continues to be considerably higher, however, among people born abroad than among those born in . The employment rate is low and unemployment is high among newly arrived immigrants, but the employment rate rises with the length of . There is also a significant positive correlation between the level of education and the employment level. At the end of 2009, 233 600 people were registered as unemployed with the . About 73 200 people or 31 per cent were born abroad. Of the 57 000 long-term unemployed, 38 per cent were born abroad. people under 25 who have been unemployed more than 100 days and people over 26 who have been unemployed for at least six months are counted as long-term unemployed. Unemployed, aged 1574 years, per cent Source: Statistics . It is still not clear if the economic downturn that began in 2008 is having any greater negative impact on the foreign-born population than on those born in . In earlier economic downturns, employment in the foreign-born population has declined more than in the Swedish-born population. One reason for this was that the foreign born worked largely in sectors that were hit hard in the downturn.