The labour market for young adults in Sweden Dr. Susanna Holzer TCO ( The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees ) "Fighting Youth Unemployment: Lessons from the Netherlands and Sweden" Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS) and the Netherlands Embassy in Stockholm Hilton, Stockholm, October 16th, 2014

Challenges we face when trying to understand the labour market situation of the youth The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees 23 percent are unemployed 12 percent are unemployed 7 percent are unemployed 5-8 percent are defined as NEETs We want all year-olds to be either in education or in work

The labour market for year-olds..in short The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees Population (1,22m) Labour force (663t) Not in the labour force (557t) Employed (507t) Unemployed (156t ~23%) Full time students (75t ~ 48%) Source: Swedish labour force survey, Statistics Sweden “Full time unemployed” (80t ~52%) Or 6,6% of p. “Just students” ( t) NEET (40-90 t) Or 5-8 % of p.

Education is often pointed out as a key factor.. The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees Source: Swedish labour force survey 2011, Statistics Sweden - Level of education of unemployed year-olds in 2011

The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees The labour market NEETs Lack of education Lack of work experience Friction Social exclusion Target group for analysis and political action ”Job ready” How should we focus?

Lack of education  percent left elementary education without degrees in all subjects - 60 percent of the children who showed weak results had low educated parents…  Of all who entered upper secondary education in 2011, 77 percent were still on the same educational track three years later. Half of the drop-outs changed educational tracks. Yet about 10 percent left school/dropped out. - Higher rate of dropouts from the “individual programs” - those who were weaker already from the start… The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees

Do not let young people leave school without upper secondary education qualifications An educational guarantee Make sure that young adults have the right and opportunities to repair educational failures up to the age of 25 years. More focus on helping the weaker student early on. => In pipeline is to do upper secondary education mandatory - have not seen the conditions for this reform yet.. Actions called for…

The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees Lack of work experience - actions Increased on-the-job practice in the vocational oriented tracks in the upper secondary education Increased opportunities to include on-the-job-experience in former more theoretical tracks with in the tertiary education. YA-jobs – (a trainee job) in line with the vocational oriented upper secondary education the young have gone through - Weak demand and slow start… The current government argues that by opening up for more trainees in the public sector, this will engage up to young adults.  Risk is that trainees are crowding out existing job opportunities and that the trainees are being used as cheap labour. The conditions for these jobs are still to be presented.

The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees Apprenticeships in Sweden Some few branches have them – carpentry and some special crafts genres. A huge wish from politicians to introduce apprenticeship systems Weak backup from the market Weak demand from the students Lack of clear operating systems Lack of support structures On both national and on EU level apprenticeships should be supplemented by concrete strategies, common rules and minimum requirements for apprenticeship systems. Especially in order to prevent the young to be explored as cheap labour.

The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees Thank you for listening!

Education is a central factor The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees Source: Eurostat - unemployment rate for three educational levels (20-24 y)

Why active labour market policies ? The Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees Source: Swedish labour force survey, Statistics Sweden Rate of short and long term underpayment (6 moth or more) in percent (15-24y) ~15%