Deep in the blood – despite cried and support, Swedish companies
are making an effort but the government is failing long term unemployed
and immigrants.
Sunday, 17 November 2013
The Swedish government seems to have talked the talk but failed to walk
the walk. After coxing companies to take in non-Swedish looking
(non-white) work force and the long terms unemployed, it turns out that
the public sector is shying away from their gospel
The former and the new labour minister have repeatedly called on
employers to use all the financial support available from the
government to hire long-term unemployed, recent immigrants and people
with disabilities. But an investigation show that the Government does
not practice what it preaches. The Cabinet Office is just one of a
total of 4600, employees with such support but is not using it.
The Swedish government has promised to provide financial concession to
companies that engage people in jobs start, entry-level jobs,
especially those on employment support – information is everywhere on
their website, for employers who are considering hiring long-term
unemployed, a newly arrived immigrant or a person with a disability can
choose from a whole range of different types of support. They can
also quickly figure out how much of the wage cost would be borne by the
State. In some cases the employment service pays up to 85 per cent of
salary costs for one year.
The government has long thought that employers use some of the forms of
assistance for themselves. The former labour minister Hillevi Engström
urged employers during a seminar earlier this year to hire people even
for simpler tasks.
According to an investigation carried out by Swedish television seeking
to determine if there was a difference between private and public
sector in the exploitation of these wage subsidies. It turned out that
private employers used the opportunity more often than the state. Among
private employers 3.1 percent of the workforce was employed with some
form of financial assistance from the Employment Service. Among
government employees, it was 0.9 percent.
Elisabeth Svantesson from the moderate party, who was then still
chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Market, was very critical of
employers in the public sector:
“The public sector has a lesson to learn. Here, one must open their
workplaces to a much greater extent. The private employers are going
ahead. If the government took the responsibility for this issue as the
private sector does, about 15 000 more would have had a job to go to,”
said Elisabeth Svantesson Swedish television.
Swedish television reports that as the government turns to criticise
the private sector for the taking in workforce, the Cabinet Office is
not living up to what the labour ministers urge other employers to do.
Of Cabinet Office’s 4600 employees, only one is employed by some form
of salary support, translated, it becomes 0.02 percent, said Swedish
television.
In other places such as the UK, when the government here wanted to
expand the workforce so as to reduce discrimination, central government
and local authorities took the lead and it was followed by the private
sector. Today the UK has one of the most diverse work forces in Europe.
By Scancomark.com
