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Demokratiskolan
The Unemployment card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 3 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaEconomy & work
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence2 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Economy & work

Unemployment

Support for the unemployed

Losing your job is one of everyday life's hardest pieces of news, and at the same time the starting signal for one of society's most developed machineries. The Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen), the unemployment funds (a-kassor) and the municipality's adult education step in under rules the Riksdag (Sweden's parliament) has decided. What happens on day one is therefore politics, from the very first form.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · adult education & last safety net · approx 25 %
  • Region · skills needs & coordination · approx 5 %
  • State · insurance, placement & programmes · approx 65 %
  • EU · coordination & the social fund · approx 5 %

The central government owns labour market policy: the insurance, the placement service and the programmes. The general election weighs heaviest, but the municipal election steers adult education.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe education & the safety net
The regionThe skills needs
Central governmentThe insurance & the placement service · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige), the committee for adult education and the social welfare committee (socialnämnd).
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the regional development committee.
The Riksdag, the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen), the unemployment funds (a-kassor) and the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan).
What do they decide?
Komvux and vocational adult education, municipal labour market measures, and income support when everything else is exhausted.
Maps shortage occupations and coordinates the county's skills supply, runs some folk high schools (folkhögskolor).
The rules of unemployment insurance, job placement, programmes and activity support.
Where are decisions made?
In the municipal hall. Many municipalities have their own labour market units.
In the regional council and together with municipalities and employers.
In the Riksdag and at the agencies. The unemployment funds are independent associations under state supervision.
Who pays?
The municipal tax: adult education and income support.
The regional tax plus national development funds.
The central government budget and membership fees to the unemployment fund. Activity support is paid out by the Social Insurance Agency.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Citizen's proposals (medborgarförslag) on what adult education offers, contact with the responsible committee.
Regional election Take part when regional skills plans go out for consultation (remiss).
General election Respond to referrals (remiss), get involved in a union or unemployment fund.
EUThe EU coordinates the social security systems for those who have worked in several countries, and the social fund co-finances measures for the unemployed. Influence it in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case Day one as unemployed
  1. State

    The rules are written in advance

    The Riksdag decides the terms of unemployment insurance, which programmes exist and how much the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) may cost. Everything that meets you as unemployed is decided before you lost your job.

    Point of influence

    The general election is the election that shapes labour market policy.

  2. Your everyday life

    Day one: register

    On the first working day without a job you register with the Public Employment Service, online or at an office. The registration day governs when the benefit can start, so it does not pay to wait.

  3. State

    The unemployment fund examines your benefit

    Your unemployment fund (a-kassa) examines your right to benefit under the rules the Riksdag has decided. Each month you submit an activity report showing which jobs you have applied for. If you are not satisfied you can request a review by the unemployment fund and then appeal the decision to the administrative court (förvaltningsrätt).

  4. State

    Support, a programme or education

    The Public Employment Service assesses how close to the labour market you stand and can refer you to programmes, work placements or support from independent providers. Whoever takes part in a programme gets activity support via the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan).

  5. Municipality

    Komvux opens the next door

    If you need to retrain it is often the municipality's adult education that applies: vocational adult education, Swedish for immigrants (sfi) or single courses. If the money is not enough, income support is the municipality's last safety net.

    Point of influence

    The municipal election decides which courses komvux offers and how the municipality's labour market unit works.

  6. Your everyday life

    The first pay from the new job

    After a vocational education, a sector that needs people is waiting. The road there went through an insurance, an agency and a classroom, and all three were political decisions.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. What would matter most to you on day one as unemployed: the money, the guidance or a sense of belonging?

  2. How high are the demands that can reasonably be placed on someone who receives benefit, and who should decide that?

  3. Whose responsibility is the transition when jobs disappear: the individual's, the employer's or society's?

  4. What should komvux in your municipality offer that it does not offer today?

  5. Unemployment looks completely different in different towns and ages. What would a fair policy be?

Glossary

A-kassa
Unemployment fund, an independent association that pays out benefit under state rules.
Aktivitetsrapport
A monthly report to the Public Employment Service of which jobs you have applied for.
Aktivitetsstöd
Benefit from the Social Insurance Agency for those taking part in a labour market policy programme.
Yrkesvux
Vocational courses within municipal adult education.
Försörjningsstöd
The municipality's financial assistance when all other income and benefits are exhausted.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.