Reactions to the Swedish National Action Plan on employment, drawn up in April 1998 response to the EU's 1998 Employment Guidelines, have been varied. The Swedish Employers' Confederation claims that the Government's financial prognosis is unrealistic. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation is generally positive about the Plan, though some organisations have claimed that it is based on unrealistic economic assumptions.
Following the Employment Summit in Luxembourg in November 1997 (EU9711168F), EU Member States agreed a set of Employment Guidelines aimed at providing a framework for national action under four main "pillars" - employability, adaptability, entrepreneurship and equal opportunities. Each Member State was to draw up a National Action Plan (NAP) for consideration at the June 1998 European Council meeting in Cardiff. From a Swedish point of view, the EU's efforts to agree a common labour market policy are welcome. The guidelines in the Swedish NAP. adopted in April 1998, in many ways already reflect a long-established Swedish tradition of an active labour market policy that encourages activity rather than passivity.
The content of the Plan
Labour market policy is, according to the Government, an integral part of economic policy. It is based on five aims:
- a reduction of unemployment so that more jobs are created and that more people will be employed as a result of training or education. One of the quantified objectives set by the Government is to reduce unemployment to 4% by the year 2000;
- new jobs will occur in the private sector;
- schools, healthcare and the social services will be given extra financial support in an effort to create jobs;
- seeking to decrease unemployment by improving pay determination procedures (SE9704111F); and
- seeking to keep public finances balanced and aiming for price stability.
Active labour market policy - a Swedish tradition
Sweden has a long tradition of good relations between the social partners and the Government. Trade unions are strongly organised by international standards. Government representatives and the social partners meet regularly to exchange views and the present NAP is a product of that tradition. The plan was submitted to the social partners for consideration and, according to the Ministry of Labour, this represents a constructive way of translating EU guidelines into practice.
Reactions to the plan
The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO), which has close links with the governing Social Democratic Party, states that it is generally satisfied with the NAP. However the trade unions, like the employers, are critical about the economic assumptions on which the Government has based the formulation of the Plan. In general, they claim that these assumptions are unrealistic and that the plan suffers from a lack of macroeconomic analysis and is thus overly optimistic.
The LO also claims that there is an absence of real integration between economic policy and labour market policy. Although there has been a constructive and fruitful dialogue between the LO and the Ministry of Labour, the dialogue with the Ministry of Finance has, it is claimed, left much to be desired.
Both the Confederation of Professional Employees, (Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation, TCO) and the Swedish Employers' Confederation, (Svenska Arbetsgivareföreningen, SAF) are more sceptical than the LO towards the Plan. Traditionally, these organisations have less influence on Social Democratic policies. The TCO argues that even though Sweden currently has a favourable economic climate, the projected increase in employment is unsatisfactory. The Government is still placing too much emphasis on reducing unemployment by labour market measures at the expense of introducing tax breaks in order to encourage innovation and job creation. The SAF claims that one of the Government's national educational programmes - known as Kunskapslyftet- is simply no more than a cosmetic measure. It cites the fact that some studies show that very few people taking part in educational measures actually obtain a real job on conclusion of the programme. SAF also argues that the Government has no policy to reduce taxes.
The Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations, (Sveriges Akademikers Centralorganisation, SACO) has commended the Government for its success in putting government finances on to a sound basis, but is critical of what it sees as a failure to create jobs, improve economic growth and ensure a high level of welfare provision. SACO claims that Sweden needs structural reforms to allow the public sector to function more effectively.
The Swedish Association of Local Authorities (Kommunförbundet) welcomes the priorities assigned in the NAP to public sector activity. The extra financial support will prevent any need to raise local taxes. The Federation of Swedish County Councils (Landstingsförbundet) has also welcomed the improved economic situation which makes it possible for the Government to give priority to healthcare and education.
All social partners agree that because Swedish labour market policy has been similar to that set out in the EU guidelines, Sweden has failed to take the opportunity to take the lead by adopting a strong and active profile. As a result, it is claimed, its profile in relation to other Member States as far as labour market policy is concerned seems rather mediocre.
Commentary
The Swedish NAP is perhaps best understood within the context of an election year. Firstly, it seems that its economic predictions are likely to be too positive. There is no mention at all in the Plan of the possible consequences of not entering Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which to some extent may be taken as reflecting a political wish to avoid public discussion on this issue before the election. The EMU issue is highly controversial, given the general scepticism towards the EU and EMU amongst the Swedish public. Secondly, the Government's promises to reduce "open" unemployment to 4% within two years arguably seem open to question, particularly since there is little in the NAP to change the position of the private sector and the projected decrease in unemployment basically relies on positive assumptions about the economy. Thirdly, there is a strong focus in the Plan on "defensive" measures which can be seen as constituting a fairly easy but short-term method for the Government to demonstrate encouraging figures in the election campaign
In conclusion, the NAP appears to commentators to have a strong political dimension and its validity would perhaps have been greater had there been serious attempts to balance the Plan with a stronger economic dimension. (Lena Järpsten, NIWL)