Post on 11-Mar-2020
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Innovative Social Policies for Inclusive and Resilient Labour Markets in Europe
D4.1 D5.1
Swedish report on the development, implementation and performance of selected innovations; and processes of policy learning
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh
Framework Programme under grant agreement No. 320121 (Project INSPIRES)
INSPIRES
Working paper series 2013 no. 1
ISSN 2215-1605
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Project title:
INSPIRES Funding scheme:
FP7 Project acronym:
INSPIRES Project ID:
320121
Consortium coordinator:
Erasmus University Rotterdam Start date project:
01-02-2013 Project duration:
42 Months
Deliverable number:
Work package
number:
4-5
Due date of
deliverable:
20-08-2015
Actual delivery date:
20-08-2015
Lead beneficiary for this deliverable:
Document version:
Authors:
Dr. Renate Minas
Phd. Student, Lisa Andersson
Keywords:
Abstract:
Dissemination Level
PU Public
PP Restricted to other programme participants
RE Restricted to a group specified to the consortium
CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium
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Contents
D4.1 ......................................................................................................................................................... 1
D5.1 ......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Swedish report on the development, implementation and performance of selected innovations; and processes of policy learning .................................................................................................................... 1
Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................... 5
National report Sweden .......................................................................................................................... 6
General introduction ........................................................................................................................... 6
Finsam ................................................................................................................................................. 7
Background ...................................................................................................................................... 7
Initiation of FINSAM ........................................................................................................................ 9
Implementation ............................................................................................................................. 10
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the innovations .................................................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 15
Complementary actors (CA) ............................................................................................................. 16
Background and initiation ............................................................................................................. 16
Introducing complementary actors ............................................................................................... 17
Implementation ............................................................................................................................. 20
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the innovations .................................................................................................................................... 24
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 25
Gy11................................................................................................................................................... 26
Introduction & Background ........................................................................................................... 26
Introduction of Gy11 ..................................................................................................................... 27
Implementation ............................................................................................................................. 29
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the innovations .................................................................................................................................... 30
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 31
Activity compensation (CA) ............................................................................................................... 33
Introduction & background ........................................................................................................... 33
Initiating activity compensation .................................................................................................... 34
Start-up of Activity Compensation ................................................................................................ 35
Implementation ............................................................................................................................. 36
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the innovations .................................................................................................................................... 37
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 38
Job guarantee for youth ..................................................................................................................... 39
Introduction & Background ........................................................................................................... 39
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Initiating the reform ...................................................................................................................... 39
Implementation ............................................................................................................................. 41
Sources of finance ......................................................................................................................... 42
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the innovations .................................................................................................................................... 42
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 43
Synthetic analysis .......................................................................................................................... 43
Processes of policy learning in Sweden ............................................................................................. 47
The policy learning infrastructure ................................................................................................. 47
Upper Secondary School reform ................................................................................................... 48
Activity compensation ................................................................................................................... 50
The job guarantee for youth ......................................................................................................... 52
General conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 54
Interviews performed for WP4 .......................................................................................................... 56
References ......................................................................................................................................... 57
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Abbreviations
CA Complementary actors
ESF European Social Fund
FINSAM Finansiell samordning (financial coordination)
IFAU Institute for Evaluation of Labour market and Education Policy
ISF The Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate
JOB The Job and Development Guarantee
LOU Public Procurement Act
LOV Act on System of Choice
mucf The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society
NBHW National Board of Health and Welfare
NCFC National Council for Financial Coordination
NAE National Agency for EducationNLMB The National Labour Market Board
NNS National Network for Federal Coordination
PES Public Employment Services
RRV The Swedish National Audit Office
SACO The Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations
SALAR Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions
SIA Swedish Social Insurance Agency
Sieps Swedish institute for European policy studies
Statskontoret Swedish Agency for Public Management
TCO Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees and Regions
UGA Job Guarantee for Youth
USSILD Upper secondary school for individuals with learning disabilities
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National report Sweden
General introduction
In the Swedish case we focus on five innovations representing different clusters as identified earlier
in the project. In a first step we decided to include innovations directed at unemployed youth that
cover different types of innovations. First, one innovation that stress the work principle (labour
supply). In that category the job guarantee for young people, 16-24, (Jobbgaranti för unga, 2007)
serves as an example. The job guarantee for young people was introduced with the aim to reinforce
job-search activity, followed by a matching process and complemented with reinforcing efforts such
as training or education but also involves a strengthened work incentives by quicker reducing benefit
compensations (stick and carrot). Also directed at youth but representing another kind of innovation
is the education reform of upper secondary education (Gy11). Tis reform can be placed under the
category of risk prevention and is one of the most prominent examples, where changes to the
different upper secondary education programs have been introduced aiming to provide a better
opportunity for direct employment after graduation. Finally we decided to include activity
compensation as an example for risk prevention and rehabilitation. Activity guarantee is a financial
benefit for youth 19-30 who most likely will not be able to work for at least a year, due to sickness,
disabilities or other damages.
Secondly we included two innovations that are about governance and the introduction of new modes
of steering and cooperation. A first example is the ordinance on complementary actors (Förordning
om kompletterande aktörer) that was introduced in 2007. The Swedish Public Employment Service
was commissioned by the Government to purchase private employment services using extern actors
as complements to the activities of the Public Employment Service. The government emphasized that
other actors’ knowledge and competence is important to help unemployed finding jobs, especially
with respect to young unemployed and that private actors would improve matching of the
unemployed and so avoid social exclusion. The second example is the so called FINSAM cooperation.
With FINSAM the Swedish Social Insurance agency (NSIA), Swedish Public Employment Services (PES),
the counties councils and municipalities have the opportunity to jointly pursue rehabilitation with
financial coordination. These two innovations are very different in their character. Whereas FINSAM
is rather unknown, the introduction of complementary actors (CA) received a lot of attention and had
an enormous impact on labor market policy.
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Table 1: Selected innovations
Innovation Goals Target groups
Scope Type of policy
Type of strategies
Expected or estimated impact on resilience
The ordinance on complementary actors
Gives the possibilities to coordinate resources across organizational boundaries, more efficient use of social spendings and resources in general
People with complex problems and in need of rehabilitation and measures of several stakeholders
Whole country, in form of regional cooperation associations
It is about delivery of policies in form of new modes of coordination
Get people far from the labor market in employment, decrease social expenditures
FINSAM Offer a more diversified range of brokerage services
Various Whole country
Governance, marketisation
Improve matching of unemployed and avoid social exclusion
Finsam
Background
Introduction of FINSAM has to be seen in the light of two developments. One is the need of and
search for modes of cooperation between various actors when it comes to help people far from the
labor market suffering from complex problems and who are in need of rehabilitation measures.
These agencies include the National Social Insurance Agency, the National Swedish Public
Employment Services, the County Councils (responsible for health) and the municipal social services.
Efforts to coordinate activities of various governmental agencies and local services had already been
introduced throughout the 1990s, mainly consisting of temporary local experiments and involving
the above listed agencies in various combinations. Several times it was stressed that improved
cooperation could result in significant synergy effects and it was further argued that joint actions
would in particular improve the situation for individuals’ with need for coordinating measures from
several agencies. In particular people being long term unemployed, or having psycho-social or more
complex health problems were assessed as to end up in a gray zone between the different
compensation and support systems. The need for joint work and action plans at central and regional
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level was emphasized several times and also introduced, yet on voluntary and local base. The most
well-known effort was the so called SOCASAM experiment that provided a platform for cross-
sectorial activities for municipalities, county councils and the National Social Insurance Agency (yet,
not including the Public Employment Services)1. Vague regulations with respect to steering resulted
however in divergent ways of implementation. Furthermore, an evaluation of SOCSAM stressed the
need of continuity, the involvement of the political level in the cooperation and a cooperation of
financial resources (Andersson et al, 2014; Socialstyrelsen, 2001).
The other development is the dramatic increase in the number of sickness benefits recipients during
the last years in Sweden. From 1999 to 2003, the number of people on long-term sick-leave and
disability pension has increased from 520,000 to 764,000, which in 2003 was equivalent to 17
percent of the workforce (Selander et al, 2005). Consequently, the trend of increasing absence from
work due to sickness and disability was a key item on the political agenda in Sweden. Yet, in the
beginning of 2000s the focus on sick leave shifted from considering absenteeism as a symptom of
workplace related problems to the increasingly intense discussions about overuse of health
insurance, lack of activation measures and the above mentioned coordination problem (S 2010:04).
In general labor market policy at that time focused on people with difficulties entering and remaining
in the labor market and the public employment services should combat exclusion from the labor
market. A special unit within the Swedish Public Employment Services2 offered services in vocational
rehabilitation for people with ill health to business, public administration, and to the Swedish Social
Insurance Agency (SIA). This activity implied a purchaser-provider relationship (not cooperation)
between SIA and the Swedish Public Employment Services (PES). The procedures regarding the
assessment if somebody was eligible for rehabilitation measures were that local social services,
regional health care agencies and the Swedish Social Insurance Agencies remitted clients to that unit
which determined the extent to which the person was ready to take part in vocational rehabilitation.
To take advantage of the rehabilitation measures it was required that the person's medical
conditions for work were fully investigated and a full time participation in the rehabilitation was
possible. Costs for the purchase of such rehabilitation services increased however sharply during the
early 2000s and in 2002 the opportunity for the Swedish Social Insurance Agency to purchase
occupational rehabilitation services at the PES was stopped. Instead a specific project directed at
long term sick was introduced where new methods and procedures should be tested and among
1 SOCSAM served later on as a model for FINSAM
2 The agency then was called National Labour Market Administration.
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others external providers for work capability assessments procured (S 2010:04).
Initiation of FINSAM
Initiator: In December 2001, the parliament asked the government to work with a proposal for a
financial coordination involving the National Social Insurance Agency, health care agencies, municipal
social services and Public Employment Services. In addition, the possibility of financial coordination
should be permanent and nationwide. The reason why this initiative was started by the parliament
was the experiences and evaluations of previous coordination efforts (see above). The active part in
this process was the parliamentary committee on social insurance. The assignment was rather
specific formulated and clearly influenced by one of the earlier efforts (SOCSAM). However, in that
cooperation the Swedish Public Employment Services had not been included and this was a
requirement now. Another requirement was that the mode of coordination should not imply a larger
organizational reform. A working group of officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of
Finance, Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Justice was formed at the Government Office (one of
the interviewed persons belonged to that working group) with the task to draft a proposal for a
financial coordination in the area of rehabilitation. So the initiative came from the parliament and
not from the government. The reaction on the proposal was in general positive (among others the
Swedish Social Insurance Agency agreed, whereas the PES delivered a negative opinion) and the
legislation was introduced.
Actors involved in rehabilitation measures
Several actors are involved in providing and handling rehabilitation measures; these are employers,
occupational health professional organization, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, health care,
local social services and the Public Employment Services. Each actor has its specific mission and
responsibility for the individual's rehabilitation. At the same time, the various actors' actions depend
on each other. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency is e.g. responsible for coordinating and
overseeing the efforts an individual needs for rehabilitation activities. The aim is to get people into
the labor market. For insured persons who have no employer, the agency is responsible for setting
up a rehabilitation inquiry. The health service is responsible for medical rehabilitation. Health care
responsibilities are regulated by the Health Care Act; responsibilities include the provision of medical
care, treatment, habilitation and rehabilitation. Goals for medical rehabilitation are that the
individual should achieve the best possible functional ability and physical and mental well-being. The
municipalities are responsible for the individual's social rehabilitation in accordance with the social
service act. The support granted intends to improve the individual's ability to live independently.
Finally, the Public Employment Services are responsible for job placement, counseling, vocational
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rehabilitation and training in order to help people to get a job (DS 2003:2). Hence, all actors involved
have quite different missions and do not necessarily agree on a common perspective and needed
measure.
A number of investigations has scrutinized the question of cooperation in recent years and has
proposed various findings and solutions. One investigation (SOU, 1996:113) suggested the
establishment of local coordination associations for planning and ordering of rehabilitation initiatives
and other work preparatory efforts, another one (SOU, 2000:78) suggested the establishment of a
new insurance (rehabilitation insurance) that should replace sickness insurance and disability
pension under one new agency. A third investigation (SOU, 2002:5) proposed that employment
services had the best expertise when it comes to help people into employment. Their expertise
should be utilized even for people with reduced work ability. A similar suggestion is proposed by the
Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret) (1997:27) arguing for that the Public
Employment Services should have the entire responsibility supporting individuals to return to work.
The Parliamentary Committee on social insurance decided in 2014 to conduct a follow-up of FINSAM.
Regarding to an interview with a representative of the National Council for Financial Coordination
the decision to carry out a follow up was mainly due to informal contacts and relations between
members of the committee and other main actors. The follow-up focuses on describing and analyzing
the activities undertaken within the framework of Finsam, results of the interventions in terms of
outputs and outcomes and the benefits they had – in particular from a user perspective - and how
collaboration, coordination and cooperation between the partners has evolved but also how
activities were monitored and evaluated. The follow-up is expected to be completed in summer
2015.
Implementation
At the turn of 2004/2005, 12 associations were established including 25 municipalities. Until 2014,
the number had increased to 80 associations spreading from north to south and from big cities to
smaller towns; 240 of the 290 municipalities are members of an association. All associations work
differently according to local priorities. Early evaluations pointed to strengths and weaknesses in the
implementation processes. The Swedish Agency for Public Management got the assignment to
evaluate Finsam and published four reports. A first evaluation (Statskontoret, 2005) showed that
mainly the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the municipalities were initiating the coordination
associations, and that the interest in establishing associations varied locally. Problems that were
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mentioned in this stage were e.g. a lack of consensus on the need to cooperate on the target group
(e.g. by the county councils) and problems reaching consensus on defining a target group. Weak
political interest and /or no interest from one agency/party were named as the most important
obstacles for establishing coordination associations. In particular the National Social Insurance
Agency and the Public Employment Services were pointed out as not being interested in cooperating
(see also Minas, 2012). The lack of interest is mainly explained with the assumption that Finsam is
seen as a supplement and not as a complement for other forms of cooperation and some parties
preferred to continue with current cooperation instead of building new ones (Statskontoret, 2005).
In particular the governmental agencies preferred to cooperate with each other instead of
cooperating with the municipalities. The municipalities in turn, were highly interested in
participating and establishing of associations. A second and third evaluation (Statskontoret, 2006,
2007) focused on the associations’ priorities regarding target group and what measures were
introduced, likewise studied the associations’ way of working. The report concluded that associations
followed the bill's intentions regarding target groups and actions. It was also found that the
associations' budgets and scale of operation varied significantly and that questions of responsibility
were in some respects unclear. A final evaluation (Statskontret, 2008) identified communication
problems between the national actors and the representatives of the associations and stress that an
institutionalized way of communication is missing.
Other actors important for implementation of Finsam
As a reaction to the establishment of cooperation associations, two national organizations were
founded. One had its origin in an informal group of officials from the Swedish Social Insurance
Agency, Public Employment Service, the National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Local
Authorities and Regions that had the task to support the development and establishment of
coordination association. This group worked with supporting new associations and to promote the
exchange of experiences between these. Yet, because of a lack of cohesion between the
coordination associations it was decided to replace the informal group with a clearer and more
formal organization; a National Council for Financial Coordination that was established in October
2008. Within the council the responsible officials for coordination of the respective
authority/organization were represented. The purpose of the Council was to give the associations
greater legitimacy and to provide a forum for developing common positions on strategic issues, and
the possibility for discussions regarding the overarching idea with coordination associations. The
Council also works for maintaining a common goal of collaboration and contribute to an increased
accumulation of knowledge in the field. It gives juridical support, organizes conferences, published a
handbook etc.
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Two persons interviewed worked for the Council on behalf of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.
They witness for an increasing interest for cooperation associations “it is just becoming more and
more”. They also explain that the starting period was a time of insecurity, the agencies were not sure
how to handle the associations and what to do: “What are our tasks, what are we supposed to think,
to do…” According to them, people perceive cooperation today as something positive and talk in
positive terms about the cooperation associations. There is a convincement that cooperation
associations should exist throughout the country. One explanation for this change is the existence of
guidelines; regulating the procedures about how to build a new association, but also on a political
level there is a greater awareness about cooperation associations.
In addition, a member-based network, the National Network for Federal Coordination (NNS) has
been established in 2009. The network aims to be the spokesperson for the local associations (S
2010:04). According to the interview named above, these two organizations can be described as the
council being the employers’ organizations and the network the union. Some years ago, the
relationship between the two organizations was not so easy depending on the unclear role of both.
According to an interview with the head of one of the biggest coordination associations the
relationship between the network and the council nowadays has improved. However, it was
indicated that the division of tasks and responsibility in the starting period still was not quite clear;
“we work with the same issues”. In contrast to that, the two persons interviewed that worked for
the Council on behalf of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency experienced the relationship between
the network and the council as still not easy, “something does not work”.
Another factor that had an impact was the re-organisation of both governmental agencies (the Public
Employment Services and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency). In both cases the re-organization
implied a centralization and streamlining and the elimination of local offices; that of course was an
obstacle for cooperation at the local level (interview with an official from the government office that
worked with coordination issues).
Current situation for one of the biggest cooperation association
In an interview performed with one of the bigger associations in Sweden (founded 2007/2008), the
head of the administrative board witnessed for an development that in the beginning was
characterized by uncertainty in the relationship between the administrative staff and the local
politicians but also by a commitment from the politicians side for the cooperation. The associations’
structure became more stable over time. Like all associations, it has a steering group that makes
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decisions over priorities and goals and a project group (responsible for the operative level). No
problems occur in this associations steering group, they all agree to prioritize long-term projects. The
interview partner also point to the fact that cooperation is spread to other areas in the
municipalities, “after meetings, people don’t leave immediately but talk about other issues”.
Meetings with other associations and with the National Council for financial coordination generate
spreading of knowledge and local experiences.
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the innovations
The legislation procedure in Sweden
Most legislative proposals presented to the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) are initiated by the
Government. Before the Government can draw up a legislative proposal, the matter in question is
analyzed and evaluated. The task may be assigned to officials from the ministry concerned, a
commission of inquiry or a one-man committee. This tradition of inquiries has a long tradition and
goes back to 1922. Inquiry bodies, which operate independently of the Government, may include or
co-opt experts, public officials and politicians. The reports setting out their conclusions are published
in the Swedish Government Official Reports series (Statens Offentliga Utredningar, SOU). Before the
Government takes up a position on the recommendations of a commission of inquiry, its report is
referred for consideration to relevant bodies. These referral bodies may be central government
agencies, special interest groups, local government authorities or other bodies whose activities may
be affected by the proposals. This process provides feedback and allows the Government to assess
the level of support it is likely to receive. If a number of referral bodies respond unfavorably to the
recommendations, the Government may try to find an alternative solution. When the referral bodies
have submitted their comments, the ministry responsible drafts the bill that will be submitted to the
Riksdag.
Re-organisation of PES and National Insurance Agency
An extensive reorganization of governmental agencies was carried out in the mid- 2000s. First out
was a reorganization of the National Social Insurance Agency that took place in 2005. The previous 21
autonomous social insurance offices and the National Social Insurance Board were joined together to
form one agency. One driving force behind the decision to centralise the social insurance
administration was the large increase in long-term sick leave which had been going on for many
years. The intention with the reform was to increase central control of the work within the Swedish
Social Insurance Agency, to reach a more uniform application of laws and regulations and increased
public insight. In a similar way, the National Labor Market Administration and the 20 county labour
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boards were transformed into the Swedish Public Employment Service in 2008. Also here motives
were to guarantee a more efficient government, to adapt the organization to new challenges that
occurred in society and to increase the quality of the organization. The Public Employment Service
got a new operational focus with stronger emphasis on employment and matching. Both re-
organisations imply a streamlining of the work carried out by governmental agencies and at the same
time impede cooperation at the local level. The number local employment services and social
insurance offices were drastically reduced and access to officers became difficult.
Four partners required
The law on financial coordination was adopted in 2004 and enables the Swedish Social Insurance
Agency, the Public Employment Services, municipalities and county councils to cooperate
rehabilitation measures (Finsam). To Finsam able to conduct, it is required that all four parties are
involved and that a coordination association is established. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency
contributes with half of the financing, the county council by a quarter and the municipalit(ies)
involved by another quarter; the parties dispose and decide jointly on the budget. The coordination
associations are managed by a board where the four parties are represented. It is important to
emphasize that Finsam is not supposed to change the current division of responsibility within the
agencies; instead resources are used for improve or increase the individual's living and working
capabilities, also initiatives that are of preventive nature may be financed as well as joint team work
or experimentation with alternative interventions for long-term unemployed. The funds can be used
for both strengthening resource of the parties' regular activities and for temporary activities or
projects. This includes education and information for different groups of staff, surveys and analyzes,
interventions directed directly to individuals as well as monitoring and evaluation. Individual-
oriented activities should aim at achieving and improving the ability to support one-selves and
provide support to enter the labor market. The following types of activity have been identified as the
most common: coaching to labor market, activation, supporting and motivating operations
(preparing for more job-oriented programs), and structural measures (not directed on individuals,
where work conducted within the overall structure of the association's activities) (S 2010:04).
The mode of financing has changed over time. In the beginning (with only a few associations), five
per cent of the general sickness funds that the National Social Insurance Agency received were
assigned for coordination measures within FINSAM. The individual associations applied for
resources. However, the system was assessed as arbitrary. Some associations succeeded in receiving
quite a lot of money, and even saving a lot whereas other got less. With the increasing number of
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associations it was clear that another solution had to be found. Now a financing model has been
worked out taking into account the local preconditions.
Conclusion
A general summary is that the interviewed stakeholders assess the mode of cooperation in form of
cooperation associations as successful. After initial problems and insecurities, the associations seem
to become established (but flexible) organizations. There is however, so far no evidence that
(re)integration of people with a need of support from several agencies functions better than before,
but so far a change in culture around cooperation seemed to have occurred.
Obstacles
Still cooperation associations are not well-known; no politician lifts the issue of coordination
on the political agenda.
Still no knowledge about aggregate effects. All associations are responsible for their own
evaluations. There is now general monitoring. Two studies performed by the Swedish Social
Insurance Inspectorate (ISF) (2010:2, 2011:14) point to the gap in knowledge on effects of
the offered measures. Several reasons for this knowledge gap are identified: the lack of
specialist competence for performing advanced evaluation studies within the cooperation
associations, missing registers over participating clients, the complexity of problems
participating unemployed have, the long-term perspective of measures and the difficulties to
perform random studies.
Another weakness (and strength at the same time) is that the local need is decisive for what
is done. The consequence is a large variety in projects and measures and now accumulation
of knowledge, no identification of general patterns/solutions.
Money/resources involved is not enough
Strengths
Is rooted locally, can see and work with the needs of the local society.
Holistic perspective
Small associations merge to become stronger, associations work closer together
The flexible form of FINSAM
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Complementary actors (CA)
Background and initiation
Swedish Public Employment Services (PES) (until 2008 The National Labor Market Board) play a
central role for Swedish labor market policy. In addition to matching and general labor market
counseling, case workers assign jobseekers to labor market programs and administer labor market
related rehabilitation for those with reduced work capacity (e.g. disabled). The PES also has a control
function in the unemployment insurance by monitoring that claimants fulfill the requirements in the
insurance of actively searching for jobs (Bennmarker et al 2013). Yet, the PES has faced severe
criticism for low productivity over a long period of time. In a report from the Swedish National Audit
Office (SNAO, Riksrevisionsverket) published in 2006 the local PES capacities to match the
unemployed with available jobs over the past decades was heavily criticized (Riksrevisionsverket,
2006). Productivity and efficacy was judged to be weak or even decreasing over time. In addition,
significant differences in effectiveness between various employment services were observed, which
was seen as a sign that there was room for improvement. The report also found that most vacancies
in the labor market were appointed without interference from any employment officer. Compared to
the early 1990s, the PES importance for the matching process had decreased (SNS, 2011). The
conclusion of the National Audit Office's report was that the shortcomings of the PES’s activities were
so severe that the government should do a thorough review. It was also pointed out in the report
that private employment services have been introduced in other OECD countries and that there are
some studies that suggest that it may produce efficiencies.
So far the role for private providers in Swedish labor market policy has been limited. Until the
beginning of the 1990s the PES had a monopoly on employment services on the Swedish labor
market. (Although private employment services did actually exist already in 1884 but were
prohibited later on.) First in the beginning of the 1990s private agencies were allowed. Initially the
National Labour Market Board had the overall control but this was abolished short afterwards.
However, it is still not allowed to charge jobseekers for matching services (Lundin, 2011). There is no
systematic evidence about the scope of private employment services within the overall employment
service market. Two studies indicate however, that private employment services are used to an
increasing extent (Lundin, 2011). With respect to provision of labor market training we can see a
similar development. A former governmental agency that provided the lion share of labor market
training was transformed into a company with state ownership in 1993. Since then private providers
have become more common. Private actors provided in 1992 training for 14 percent of participants
and for 55 percent in 1999 (Ds, 2000:38). However, even if the share private providers in labor
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market training increased, the share vocational labor market training within active labor market
policy as such decreased dramatically in 2000s. CA within coaching and matching measures
appeared with the shift in governance in 2006/07.
Introducing complementary actors
After the change of government in 2006, the elected centre-right government formulated the goal to
increase private elements in labour market policy. The goal was already mentioned in the Statement
of Government in 2006 and concretised thereafter in the Government's first budget in 2007. The
(then existing) National Labour Market Board received in the appropriation for the financial year
2007 the assignment to more actively use private actors or so-called complementary actors
(Regleringsbrev, 20073). The explicit purpose was to improve matching and combat job seekers
exclusion. It was emphasized that other actors’ knowledge and competence is important to help
unemployed finding jobs, especially with respect to young unemployed and should be seen as a
complementary part of the activities carried out of the PES. By that job seekers should get more
personalized services resulting in shorter unemployment periods. The Swedish Public Employment
Service was required to report on which complementary actors were assigned, how many applicants
used these, and the results obtained. One year later the goal was specified by that at least 30 percent
of job seekers should receive help of complementary actors (Regleringsbrev, 20084). A pilot project
with private actors was introduced in 2007 and in 2008 complementary actors became part of the
Employment Service's regular services. In 2012, the PES had contracts with 796 private actors, which
delivered additional intermediary services to more than 121 000 participants. Providers included
everything from sole proprietors to large corporations.
Another reform with bearing on the establishment of private actors came in force in Sweden in 2007.
The reform abolished the obligation for employers to notify vacancies to the employment service.
The reasons for the abolishment were, among other things, that the act was not followed in practice.
Since 2010, the PES has the opportunity (not the obligation) to procure services according the
customer choice model where the participants themselves choose which provider to provide the
service. This was introduced for the service introduction guide (etableringslotser) for newly arrived
immigrants.
3 Appropriation for financial year 20078 in respect of the Employment Service and
appropriations in Category 13 Labor market; 4 Appropriation for financial year 2008 in respect of the Employment Service and appropriations in Category 13
Labor market
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Services provided by complementary actors
The services provided by CA are of different kind and have changed over time. Some of the more
well-known services are/were two services that classify under the so called guarantees (the Job and
Development Guarantee (JOB) and the Job Guarantee for Youth (UGA)), services for rehabilitation
(rehabiliteringstjänster), the introduction guide (etableringslots), job coaches, job coach employment
places for unemployed with mental impairment (sysselsättningsplatser), and job coach over the
threshold (coach över tröskeln) (Arbetsförmedlingen 2013).
The Job and Development Guarantee and the Job Guarantee for Youth
The target group for the CA-services within the guarantees are participants in labour market
programs Job and Development Guarantee (JOB) and the Job Guarantee for Youth (UGA); people
that have been unemployed for quite a while. Participants and the CA decide jointly what efforts are
needed and activities consist mainly of mapping the individuals’ capacities and problems, support
with job search activities and preparation efforts. The intention is that the efforts will lead to
employment. The services are divided in three phases: one including mapping, job search activities
with coaching and preparation efforts, the second including work experience, job training and
enhanced job training and a third one mainly consisting of simple employment tasks. Services in the
last category have been heavily criticized as being meaningless and inefficient. The target group does
not include people with special needs because of a disability that results in reduced ability to work.
Those remain in activities provided by the PES. With respect to youth, two services belong to this
category: one directed at youth that are close to the labor market and one for those far away.
Activities involve in-depth mapping, guidance and counseling, job search activities with coaching, and
job training and education. CA services in the guarantees show lower “custom satisfaction” than
other services. They are procured under Public Procurement Act (LOU) and the participants have no
possibility to change providers. The guarantees are the largest among all services (see below).
Introduction Guide
The service introduction guide was introduced in 2010 (and abolished in 2015). It was targeted
towards job seekers who newly had arrived in Sweden. The purpose with that service was to provide
the job seeker as soon as possible with professional support to enter the labour market and society.
The idea was that the guide should help with building networks, language skills and knowledge of
Swedish society and working life. In addition, the guides' networks should provide wider contacts and
better opportunities for the newly arrived job seekers compared to if they just used the PES services.
The introduction guide had the most satisfied participants according to surveys carried out by the
19
PES. Many participants took the advantage of replacing coaches if they were not satisfied. However,
there were severe problems with marketization of that specific service. For example, the PES
received signals that some providers tried to promise participants gifts of various kinds if they would
change to their company. When it got known that some introduction guides carried out illegal
activities including recruiting unemployed to the terror group IS the PES decided to stop the service.
Job coach
The government assigned the PES to establish personal job coaching to short-term unemployed in
December 2008 (ended in 2011). Job coaching was supposed for a maximum of three months and
should run in parallel with the PES ordinary brokerage. The service ended 2013 due to the reduced
budget appropriation for the target group the service addressed. The target group comprised all job
seekers registered at the employment services that risk becoming unemployed or newly unemployed
that were not relevant for the guarantees (the JOB and UGA). The service was intended to give the
jobseeker a better understanding of the job-seeking process, concrete tools for job search and
matching to labour market demand. The support should be initiated at an early stage in form of
personalized job coaching. The activity was not full time, but complemented the PES workers
matching task. The PES had received relatively few complaints on the Job coach services. A reason for
that might be that the service was well established and both the providers, participants and advisers
were well aware of the content and aim of the service. The service was procured according the Act
on System of Choice (LOV) and the participants were free to choose their supplier.
The procedure around the introduction of job coaches is a good example of the situation in that
time: The government required in 2009 the establishment of both PES in-house job coaching and
external coaching conducted by contracted private providers. The objective of the coaching was to
give the "unemployed extra support to job search" in the difficult labor market situation that
followed the 2008 financial crisis. The PES had to act quickly and as has been stressed in various
interviews performed, the procurement process and the employment of coaches in 2009 occurred
under time pressure (Liljeberg et al 2012). The reason for that was that unemployment rose rapidly,
the PES had a lot of money that should be used in 2009 and the government’s targets for the number
of job coaching participants were high. The PES received funds to 110 000 job seekers that should
receive coaching in 2009, for 2010 the target was even higher with 120 000 unemployed. Due to
better economic conditions in 2011 the target was then only 60,000 participants.
20
It was difficult for the PES to reach the ambitious targets as procurement and implementation took
time to begin with. This led to that not all money was used for 2009. There are also sings that time
pressure resulted in a priority of quantity instead of quality (Liljeberg et al 2012). Local PES tried to
get job seekers to participate in job coach services to reach the set targets, rather than to look at the
best solution for the job seeker. The PES hired about 740 internal job coaches during 2009. A new
professional role was created and a shorter training of two weeks was carried out for the job
coaches. Many of those employed had been registered as work-seekers by themselves, which also
seems to have been a stated intention at enrollment. No requirement for work experience existed.
The number of internal coaches increased in 2010 to approximately 850 but the employment of job
coaches was ended at the end of the same year. In December 2013 the coaches' contracts with PES
ended and were not prolonged. The economic upturn and decreased unemployment made that the
PES needed to save money and instead transferred the service on regular permanent employment
agents.
Implementation
Special unit for CA at PES
The PES decided in late 2008 that all activities with CA should be coordinated in a separate unit. This
unit is responsible for cooperation with private providers and the entire process from procurement
to the monitoring of delivery, including quality assurance of cooperation with private providers. It
thus this units that signs contracts with the CA. The PES is obliged to carry out regularly reviews
about CA, about the documentation, competencies of staff, attendance reporting, handling of
complaints e.c.t. (Arbetsförmedlingen 2013).
Number of job seekers involved
In 2013 a total of 1017 actors provided complementary services to about 150 000 participants. Most
participants were found in the activities of the guarantees, followed by job coaching and introduction
guide. As mentioned above, the service job coaching was ended in December 2013. Job Coaching was
a solution to meet the high unemployment during the economic crisis. PES decided to end the service
in line with the government’s intentions with labor market policy - the PES had to prioritize their
resources to counter and break long-term unemployment (Arbetsförmedlingens
arbetsmarknadsrapport 2014).
21
Table 1: Number of people in services provided from CA. 2011-2013
Services 2011 2012 2013
Guarantees (JOB, UGA) 50100 58600 65300
Others Job coach In-depth coach New arrived immigrants Introduction guide Services for rehabilitation
- 84900 2100 5400 660
42300 - 700 13800 10100
40900 - - 2900 17700
Total 137600 121400 148500
Source: Arbetsförmedlingens arbetsmarknadsrapport 2014: 34
The composition of the job seekers participating in procured services has changed during the time
period (Figure 1). From 2010 to 2012, the service job coaching was primarily directed to newly
unemployed. This meant that the proportion of vulnerable groups among participants using private
providers was relatively low. Since 2012, the number of participants belonging to vulnerable groups
increased significantly. The increase is partly due to more participants in rehabilitation services, and
partly because more and more participants in the service introduction guide. Three out of four
participants in CA services belonged in the early 2014 to vulnerable groups.
Figure 1. Number of applicants with pending decisions with private providers, monthly 2009-201332
Source: Arbetsförmedlingens arbetsmarknadsrapport 2014: 34 Red line = far from labour market Blue line= close to labour market Black line= total The number participants that remained in measures provide by CA has increased since the start of
2008 (Figure 2). Between December 2008 and June 2009 the number of remaining participants
22
increased by 37 percent, from 9,800 to 13,800 participants. The decrease in Maj 2009 occurred
because a contract with a supplier was terminated in eleven locations and the affected jobseekers
were assigned to other complementary actors or to the Employment Service's own activities in
guarantees.
Figure 2. Number of jobseekers who have started or provided a program provided by a CA, and remaining job seekers at CA, monthly 080701-090630
Source: Arbetsförmedlingens arbetsmarknadsrapport 2014
Blue line- remaining job seekers
Red line- left job seekers
Green line – started job seekers
Different reimbursement models
The reimbursement system for CA differs depending on client groups. Generally, a model is applied in
which one part of the compensation is paid at the beginning of an activity. Then, there is a
performance-based compensation that depends on if the job seeker gets a job and manages to keep
it for a certain period of time. CA get better paid for groups far from the labour market
(Arbetsförmedlingen2013).
Participants
A comparison between participants in activities provided by CA and those provided by the PES
showed many similarities (Martin and Sibbmark 2010a, 2010b). Participants in PES organized
programs had been unemployed somewhat longer and had participated in the program for a longer
time. This implies that the participants were somewhat weaker when it comes to employability.
23
Rating systems
Some of the labor market services are procured by the system of customer choice. Regarding these,
job seekers are free to choose the CA they want. However, jobseekers have found it difficult to make
rational choices based on the information they received about the various CA. The PES is not allowed
to recommend or give tips about how well various CA have previously succeeded in their mission. To
deal with that, a trial was carried out for a period of six months in 2013 with a performance-based
grading system for the CA offering job coaching services. The rating system was based on how well
the various CA previously succeeded in getting jobseekers into work. The best performers received
three stars, the highest rating, two stars were medium and one star the worst rating. The ratings
were published on the PES website in April 2013. A follow-of the up rating system shows that the CA
who received three stars had managed to associate itself more participants than the actors who had
received fewer stars. The results suggest that this grading system led to that actors who performed
better increased its market share while those who performed less well decreased their market share
(Arbetsförmedlingens arbetsmarknadsrapport, 2014).
Evaluations
As described above, the PES launched in 2007 a pilot project with private employment services in
three regions. The pilot had the form of a randomized experiment to empirically assess the
effectiveness of contracting out employment services to private placement agencies. The results
show that unemployed at private placement agencies had a closer interaction with their placement
worker than unemployed at the PES. In particular, unemployed at private agencies receive more
assistance in improving their job search technology. However, no overall difference in the probability
of employment between private placement agencies and the PES could be found. There was also
evidence that private providers are better at providing employment services to immigrants, and also
indications that they may be worse for adolescents. Any effects tend to fade away over time
(Bennmarker et al, 2013). Also another study used a randomized design to investigate the
effectiveness of private alternatives in vocational rehabilitation, that is, measures that are directed
towards long-term sick people who are unemployed or not able to return to their former workplace
(Jönsson and Skogman Thoursie, 2012). Over 4,000 participants were randomly offered private and
public rehabilitation. The authors did not observe differences in employment rates between
individuals who received rehabilitation by private or by public providers.
Another attempt was carried out by the PES where the outcome of job coaching services was
investigated. Individuals with relatively short registration periods were studied with a focus on
24
differences in employment status between individuals who had participated in job coaching and
individuals who have not participated5. Moreover, the results were compared to individuals who
participated in internal (PES) and external job coaching. All individuals who received job coaching
services between September 1 and October 31 are included in the study. The study showed no
statistically significant difference between individuals who have had external and internal job
coaching. The results also showed that individuals who have had job coaching are more likely to be in
practice, but less likely to have a job than individuals who have not had job coaching. The differences
are statistically significant, but not very big. In general, it is stressed that knowledge on the impact of
private solutions in labor market policy is fairly meager (Lundin, 2011).
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the innovations
Initially no market for CA existed. The PES had to start from scratch and the introduction of CA was
an enormous challenge. The PES was under large pressure to procure CA in particular during the
second half of 2008 to meet the high targets set by the government. There was a great uncertainty
within the PES how to handle the requirements, the government gave no guidelines how to find the
CA , how to build up a new market but was at the same time impatient (interview with a
governmental official). The whole procedure was a situation like “learning by doing”. After the first
year, it became obvious that CAs were dominated by large companies and in the following letter of
appropriation to the PES (2009) the government changed the requirements to facilitate the
applications from small companies. Then, the crisis hit Sweden, the labour market situation changed
and number of unemployed increased. The procedure to procure CA was however, not meant for
large volumes and requirements changed again. Now, the PES was supposed to procure intern and
extern job coaches in large numbers in short time. The situation appeared as chaotic when former
unemployed in large numbers were assigned as job coaches for other unemployed.
Furthermore, during all these years the PES had a hard work to improve its knowledge on how to
purchase, how to define quality, and to find follow up routines – all that complete new tasks for the
PES. Altogether the period was characterized by shifting requirements, detailed steering by the
government, and no time for implementation (too much in too short time, interview with a
governmental official). In addition, scandals about companies exposing unemployed and making a lot
of profit on unemployment appeared in the media on regularly base. With respect to results also the
right-wring government was disappointed, expectations had been high (see above, evaluation
5 http://www.arbetsformedlingen.se/download/18.3e418bad12dec33840580007048/rapport
25
studies). With the new left-wing government in 2013 and the fact that the crisis was almost over, the
situation calmed down. The mode of steering changed from detailed to frame work steering and the
PES had the possibility to build up continuity in their activities.
Conclusion
The introduction of CA has implied some radical changes in Swedish labor market policy. The
development was mainly driven by the right –wing government in 2006/07 using arguments like
increased consumer choices, better service production and efficiency. Also the Green Party was
positive to private actors in labor market policy. Nowadays, some consensus exist that private actors
have a role in complementing the PES, the question is rather how many are needed and in what form
(Lundin, 2011).
The introduction of private actors still entails challenges that are high on the agenda in the political
debate in Sweden. One issue is how contracts and reimbursement systems should look like. This
touches upon issues as how detailed contracts should be formulated (vs flexibility), should they be
built on result, how should follow up systems look like and so on. Critics from the employers’ side
highlighted for example the lack of continuity in contracted services and the focus on price instead of
quality (interview with employer organization). Others (like the unions) questioned the numbers of
CA and rather would like to see them as a complement, thus, limiting the number of private actors
(interview with representative of Swedish trade union confederation). A further consequence lifted
was that the control of the unemployed (that is a task of the PES) has become more difficult with the
involvement of the CA.
An infected debate has blown up about the possibility for private actors to make profits in tax
financed welfare state services. This debate has its origin in cases where private investors made
exorbitant profits in tax financed welfare services (elderly care, education). With the shift in
government in 2013, the social democratic lead government tried to shift reimbursement system to
focus on quality and limit the possibility to generate profits, the left party wants to prohibit profits
entirely, whereas the right wing parties don’t want to limit the possibility to make profits. Yet, the
development during this period and the introduction of the CA also highlighted another issue, that of
steering of the PES. The PES is and was a highly criticized agency and the right wing government tried
to improve the work of the agency by rigorous top-down steering. Also the CEO of the PES received
massive criticism for a strict steering mode and had to resign in 2013.
26
Gy11
Introduction & Background
The education reform of upper secondary education can be placed under the category of risk
prevention and is one of the most prominent examples, where changes to the different upper
secondary education programs have been introduced aiming to provide a better opportunity for
direct employment after graduation.
The upper secondary reform was introduced as a legislative proposal in 2008 and implemented in
2011. The previous upper secondary school was introduced in 1994 with a three year duration for all
programs, a focus of what was called core subjects, and a guaranteed basic eligibility for further
education for all those who graduated. The core subjects, and other common subjects were
complemented with an increase in a wide range of choices aimed to provide individual choice for
students in terms of direction and special interests. The target group for upper secondary school is
based on age and qualifications and hasn’t changed with the reform. It is available for all students
who qualify by having complete grades in English, Swedish and math, and may be initiated no later
than the fall of the year you turn 20. In the beginning of the 21st century, upper secondary school
became a focal point in education politics due to poor testing scores in international evaluations on
knowledge among students. Despite having a high rate of young people enrolling in, and graduating
from upper secondary school, the international PISA tests revealed serious gaps in knowledge
(Skolverket, 2007). Along with the general purpose of upper secondary school in Sweden, the specific
agenda of the 2011 reform was to decrease drop-out rates, improve knowledge level among
students, increase quality of education and provide a smoother transition from school to work. The
idea was to achieve this by changing the programs as well as teaching process of different subjects.
Mainly, the idea was to provide student with more specialized skills and knowledge, both by
extending and revising the vocational programs and promoting the teaching of core competences in
subject-specific environments.
Initiating Gy11
In 2007, the right wing government assigned a committee to investigate how a new structure for
upper secondary education could be designed, looking in to everything from entry and qualifications
to exit and graduation. In working with the government report, which traditionally serves as the basis
for new legislation, the committee cooperated with seven focus-group municipalities and four
universities, as well as several trade organizations, social partners, school unions and student
organizations (SOU 2008:27). While the report states a wide and “open” perspective, in working with
the report, the rightwing coalition had suggested major changes to upper secondary education
27
already in their election platform during 2006. Most prominent were the ideas of strengthening the
connection to the labour market via industries and firms. With this in mind, the idea of
apprenticeships were launched, along side a revised vocational training, extending on-the-job
training at the expense of abolishing the basic qualification to higher education for these students.
Instead the qualifications for higher education for those enrolled in a vocational training program
would be electable as added courses (Allians för Sverige, 2006).
The reform of upper secondary education was introduced on national level after introductory
lectures nation wide for both principals and teachers (interview, National Agency for Education: NAE,
2015-04-14). In the Swedish school system the National agency for Education are responsible for
producing goals and learning requirements, as well as general advice and prescriptions while the
municipalities are responsible for the operative part, where the principal at each school is the lowest
level authority for implementation12 (Upper secondary School Ordenance, 2010:2039)
Introduction of Gy11
The right wing coalition government, based on a government report requested by them in 2007
when they took office, put the bill for a reformed upper secondary education forward. After having
been submitted for comments, the proposed bill was passed through parliament by the end of 2008
and implemented in 2011, which is a rather swift process of only two years given the changes
needing to be made regarding not only new programs, alterations in lay-up and content of old
programs, new curriculum and new education goals and grading scale. In addition these changes
require both altered and brand new textbooks as well as recruiting of staff for the new programs to
be introduced. When the proposed bill was first sent out for referrals, this was an open process
where the bill proposal was available to the public for commenting. This process was meant to
provide the possibility of input from civil society as a whole, rather than just different organized
representative bodies. In addition roughly 200 experts were consulted, representing different
industries and business sectors, universities and teachers. Most of the referral comments also came
from the usual consultative bodies, with varying degree of conflicting opinions on different parts of
the reform. Mostly, the areas where there was disagreement reveled around the changes made to
vocational programs as well as the introduction of an apprenticeship program, and the structures
surrounding them.
12
http://www.skolverket.se/om-skolverket/det-har-gor-skolverket-1.61165
28
For instance, the government proposed strengthening the relation between school and business and
industrial sectors, which gained wide positive response. But the committee who put together the
underlying government report also wanted a council of this sort within the NAE, with the authority to
submit independent advice and suggestions to the government while still being part of the NAE. This
was critiqued for unclear responsibilities between the Swedish Council for Higher Education and the
NAE conflicting with the advisory function of the NAE, as well as being costly and likely increase
bureaucratization. In this instance the government was sided with the consultative bodies rather
than their own investigative committee, and the national councils were positioned externally and as
an advisory body to the NAE instead of the government (Prop. 2008/09:199). There is also the issue
of dividing education in upper secondary school by making the theoretical programs preparatory for
higher education, but not the vocational training/apprenticeship programs. While positive responses
are seen regarding the expansion of vocational and apprenticeships programs and the aim to provide
a smoother transition from school to work for these pupils, there is worry that it will exclude youth
from other routes and that it demands that young people position them selves in the labour market
very early. The government stands by their proposal and underlines that the possibility for each
student to extend their vocational or apprenticeship program to achieve basic eligibility for higher
education within their diploma (ibid). However, as these programs have been promoted by the
government as options for those who are tired or unmotivated to take part in further theoretical
education (Swedish Public Radio, 2012; Interview Swedish ESF, 2015-04-19), one could question the
likelihood that they will choose to extend their theoretical studies to gain access to further education
in the future, if this is not required. There was also worry that apprenticeship positions may be
difficult to find for some occupations, as well as a general concern that employability for a specific
type of work (which was part of the governments stated intention), will be difficult to guarantee
within the realm of an upper secondary education. Other changes made are the abolition of locally
designed and implemented courses, decided upon at municipal level. This was abolished with the
introduction of the new upper secondary reform, argued for by the government as a way of assuring
national equity in terms of the basic quality of education. While some municipalities called for more
flexibility than simply abolishing local courses, for instance by quality auditing by the NAE, the
government wholly ignored this and local courses decided upon at municipal level are no longer
allowed. This can be seen in the light of the governments stated ambition to assure a national
education at upper secondary level of high quality and on equal grounds for everyone. A tightening
of national level control and decision making on programs and courses are thought to make it easier
to assure this. On the other hand it counteracts the idea of entrepreneurship which is also a focal
point of the reform, given that local course were first introduced as a way of taking advantage of
local initiatives.
29
Concerning the apprenticeship programs, an interesting aspect is the fact that many of the argument
circulating in the debate today and during the past couple of years, strongly resemble the debates
concerning apprenticeship and vocational training programs that have resurfaced periodically since
the 1920’s when they were first introduced. For ex: that not all student have the motivation, ability
or will to complete the theoretical education at upper secondary level (or even finish the last year of
elementary school), that it is more cost-effective than labor market measures for this group and that
apprenticeship-placements with actual wages will increase the tax base. Reoccurring arguments
against these programs have been that there isn’t a correspondence between available places and
demand from students vs. employers, and that the theoretical vocational training programs already
covered a large section of occupations. There was also the position, in line with the Swedish model,
that any regulation of apprenticeship programs was a matter for social partners rather than the
state.
Implementation
The previous format for upper secondary school, which was introduced in the 90’s, meant a
decentralized structure and an education format described as goal-driven and program oriented. As
mentioned the municipalities and thereafter the principal at each school are the main implementing
bodies, supported by directions and prescriptive documents from the national board of education,
and of course ultimately in accordance with legislation. The main regulative legal texts are the
education act and the upper secondary ordinance. The education act is passed by the parliament and
contains general provisions for all school forms, including the upper secondary school, regulations
more specific for upper secondary school are stated in the upper secondary ordinance which is
designed and decided on by the government (Skolverket, 2012) In addition to the legislation there
are regulative documents such as the curriculums, diploma goals and subject syllabus. The curriculum
for non-compulsory school forms is designed and decided upon by the government, describing the
main tasks, values goals and guidelines for the upper secondary school. The diploma goals contain
specific guidelines for each programmed states the goals and forms the base for planning of each
program’s education and teaching. The government, based on suggestions made by the National
board of education, decides on the diploma goals. Finally, each subject has its only subject syllabus
stating what courses are included in each subject, the basic subjects (history, English, physical
education and health, math, science studies, religion, social studies, and Swedish or Swedish as a
second language) are decided on by the government, whereas the other subjects are decided on
independently by the NAE. In other words, the chief regulative authority of the upper secondary
education is the government, followed by the government run National Board of education. This
30
implies a division between regulative and implementing authority between state and municipality. In
practice it may lead to discrepancies, or glitches, in the process from regulations and goals to actual
implementation. For ex, there may be misinterpretations or lacking of knowledge on how/what to
implement, insufficient time and/or finances to implement properly etc. This means that it is
imperative to have an ongoing dialogue between school boards and Department of Education as well
as the National Board of Education. An evaluation of teachers opinions on the implementation of the
upper secondary reform showed that a vast majority of teachers13 felt that neither the time nor the
information provided for the implementation had been sufficient (Skolverket, 2014). When the bill
for a reformed upper secondary was passed at the end of 2008, the changes were stated to be valid
from 1st of March 2010, and implemented at national level without trial periods or schools. Before
the implementation, 100 reference schools were decided upon and kept in touch with the NAE so
that they would be able to follow the implementation continuously. The reference schools are still in
place and they meet with the NAE a few times a year.
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the innovations
The main goals of the upper secondary reform were to increase standards for learning and quality of
education and to provide a speedier transition from school to work. This has been sought to achieve
by restructuring of goals for curses and programs, re-designed the content of courses and programs
and introducing a new format and scale for grading. In addition, less formal factors that have
impacted the development and implementation regard the pubic debate and political discourse on
the upper secondary school, and the allotted time for implementation at local level. The way in
which the changes to has been framed and debated both politically, in the media and in public
debate have many believing that this has most likely had an impact on the perception and also
attractiveness of it. To a large extent the debates have revolved around the extension of vocational
training programs and the introduction of apprenticeship programs within the upper secondary
school. Within the upper secondary school reform of 2011, the basic eligibility for higher studies that
previously was achieved within the realm of all completed programs was excluded from the
vocational training and apprenticeship programs. While there was, and still is, possible for students
within these programs to individually add on the required courses for basic eligibility to higher
studies, much of the media and public debate revolved around the new division between theoretical
studies with possibility for going on to university and practical programs preparing students for
working life but excluding them from higher studies. Some of the debate on the surprisingly low level
13
Regarding the implementation of the Upper Secondary School reform 2011, 56% of teachers replied that information given was insufficient, and 79 % replied that time alloted was insufficient.
31
of applicants to the practical programs has revolved around the fact that it was given quite a bad
reputation, making students, (and their parents) unwilling to apply for it. Adding to this debate, the
government at the time and particularly the minister of education pushed the extended vocational
training and apprenticeship programs as alternatives for students who were tired of the school desk,
tired of education and overall had a low level performance leaving elementary school. It is not
difficult to understand that such a description may not be so appealing to students nor their parents,
or to businesses that may be prospects for admitting vocational training or apprenticeship-students.
Within the increasing debate on education issues seen over the past couple of years, their has been a
growing media coverage and following debate on private companies making profits in tax financed
welfare services such as schools. Coinciding with a huge increase in private schools, media has
reported on schools who at the start of the semester lacked teachers, supplies and sometimes even
classrooms for their pupils, as well as schools having to shut down mid-semester, leaving students
without a provider for their education, on occasion for substantial periods of time. This can be
connected to the wider debate on profits in tax financed welfare services which has been ongoing for
several years (see pp.22), and was one of the big issues in the election of 2014.
Adding to the role of public, media and political debate and discourse, the prerequisites for
implementation of the reform in schools all over the country seem to have been lacking, particularly
in the matter of time. When the reform was first thought to be implemented in 2007, the NAE begun
their preparatory work, but then the reform plans were called back and initiated again for the
implementation of 2011. In an interview at the NAE, the fact that some preparatory work had begun
in 2007, is described as having been beneficial as they didn’t have to start from scratch when the
reform was back on the table again and the process at this level isn’t described as have been lacking
in time. While on grassroots-level, at the actual schools, a study published by the NAE show a high
degree of teachers stating that the time allotted to them fro implementing the reform was much to
brief and that it want entirely possible to go through the necessary preparations.
Conclusion
While the overarching prerequisites for implementation are at the mandate of the government and
the state run NAE, the substantial prerequisite for implementation are in the hands of the
municipalities and the time, space and financing allotted to the implementation process is according
to the NAE ultimately in the hands of the principal at each school (Interview, Christina Månsson).
When it comes to possibilities to adjust parts of the reform if deemed necessary this is tied to the
steering of the upper secondary school where the curriculum is in the hands of the NAE and
32
overarching legislation and/or steering documents are under the authority of the government and
parliament. This means that steering and financial responsibilities lie on different levels, something
which potentially creates problems in the procedure of implementing the reform.
The NAE’s follow up on the implementation of the reform, only one year after it was launched,
showed that a majority of teachers felt that there had been insufficient time and information before
initiating the implementation. Meanwhile almost half of the teacher in the theoretical programs
experienced a lack in discretion and freedom to design their courses and classes alongside a
perceived increase in content per course and a heavier administrative burden. This may be a
consequence of additional responsibilities not being met by additional personnel resources. Given
that no funding was allotted the schools from central level, the degree of sufficient time and
resources provided for schools to implement the reform is likely a matter of municipal-level politics.
We unfortunately have no cross national wide data on this, what we can say is that the governance
structure (with municipal governing over finances and implementation) opens up for the possibility
of diverging trends among municipalities in implementation-resources. The teachers perspective on
the future results of the reform was that it would add stress for both pupils and teachers, while
knowledge levels and drop-out rates would probably remain the same (Skolverket, 2014). For
students attending upper secondary school under the curriculum prior to the reform 2011, the
average grade is 14,0 which is approximately the level it’s been at since 200814. Three of four student
enrolling in Upper Secondary School graduated within 4 years and 87% of these had in their degree
acquired basic eligibility for further studies. Looking at statistics available today we can see that
roughly 88% of student enrolled in Upper secondary school graduated with a complete degree, and
around 11% graduated with an incomplete degree, a so called study-certificate. This means that the
throughput doesn’t look much different today than in the years prior to the reform, in spite of
government’s intentions. The average grade is not as readily comparable given the new grading scale
and process of assessment that came with/alongside the reform.
14
Grade average has been between 14,0 and 14,1 since the Swedish Associations of Local authorities and Regions started their yearly comparative follow-up in 2008
33
Activity compensation (CA)
Introduction & background
Activity compensation is an example of innovations focused on risk-prevention and preventing
sickness. This innovation is directed toward two overlapping vulnerable groups, youth 19-30 with
disabilities or long-term illness and is thereby an interesting example as it captures some of the main
trends in Swedish policy making in this area during the 21st century; restructuring of the social
insurance system for those unable to work and targeting young people outside the labor market.
There are of course other features of policy making connected to labor market participation that are
noticeable, and we have tried to highlight these in our other selected innovations.
Activity compensation covers young people unable to work due to sickness, disability or prolonged
upper secondary education, with cash benefit as well as the opportunities to remain activated in
ways and to an extent that is possible given their condition. The benefit was introduced on national
level through legislation in January 2003. Previously this income replacement was available either as
sick pay or early retirement for youth and financed through the pensions-system despite being
available from the age of 16 (isf, 2011:10). When replaced by activity compensation and sickness
benefits, the financing for the benefits also changed and are since 2003 funded via the national
health-insurance system. The changing of the title early retirement for youth, to activity
compensation was another step in the agenda to increase labor force participation. The new benefit
came with new rules, stating that activity compensation should be available to young people no
earlier than July of the year they turn 19, and no later than the year they turn 30. This means a higher
age limit than the previous compensation, motivated with the idea that activity compensation is to
start only after the age when upper secondary school is usually completed15 (at the age of 18) (SOU
2008:102). Activity compensation can be granted on essentially two different grounds, covering two
groups which are in fact both quite heterogenic. In the case of prolonged secondary education, this
refers to those attending upper secondary school for individuals with learning disabilities (USSILD).
When attending USSILD, all programs lasts four years instead of three and is grounds for receiving full
time activity compensation16. When granted due to reduced working capacity, the cause needs to be
assessed as likely to last for at least a year and must be a reduced capacity of at least 25 %. This
group is quite diverse in the range and cause of their inability to work. The prerequisites for this
group also changed as amendments to the activity compensation were introduced in 2007.
Previously, the working capacity was tried in relation to commonly occurring types of work. After
changes amended in 2007, it is now stated that working capacity should be tried in relation to paid
15
Upper secondary school is not mandatory, but very common (National Board of Education, 2008) 16
http://www.skolverket.se/om-skolverket/andra-sprak-och-lattlast/in-english/the-swedish-education-
system/upper-secondary-school/2.898
34
work on the labor market, which is interpreted as a wider range of work than that suggested in the
previous wording from 2003 (SOU 2008:102). Another change made in 2007 was the fact that the de-
contextualization when conducting an assessment of working capacity. Previously, surrounding
circumstances such as level of education, previous experience, living situation and age were allowed
to be taken into consideration in this assessment. This is no longer the case (ibid.). Over time, there
has been a huge influx in people receiving activity compensation, from 1900 people receiving first
time or renewed compensation in 1998, to 6700 people in 2007. There has also been quite a low
turnover rate of people leaving the activity compensation scheme, no more than 3 % in 2006
(Försäkringskassan 2007:11 in SOU 2008:102, pp.64). Lately there has been an increase in young
people with long-term decreased work capacity receiving health insurance benefits..
Initiating activity compensation
The activation compensation came about as a result of the changes made to previous early
retirement and disability-pension schemes (ref). In 2003 it was the social democrats who abolished
early retirement and disability pension and introduced activation compensation and sickness benefit.
In 2007, the right-wing alliance government made changes to these benefit systems and the resulting
regulations of those changes are the ones in place today. During the time when the previous early
retirement and disability pension schemes were abolished, the social democratic government had
been in power since 1982. Since the 70’s, part of the regulations of early retirement allowed for older
workers to be granted early retirement for so called labour market reasons. This regulation was
introduced as a way of taking into consideration how rationalizations on the labour market often hit
older workers harder. These rules were abolished in the early 90’s, both as a mean of keeping public
expenditure down, and as a way of avoiding early retirement as a political measure to keep
unemployment figures down during economic downturns (SCB, 2003). Prior to the actual legislative
changes establishing the activation compensation as a new reform, a committee on early retirement
was assigned the task of putting together a proposition for a new benefit-system for those who have
a reduced work-capacity over a long period of time (Dir. 1997:9). The committee on early retirement
was appointed by the social democratic government and consisted of 22 civil servants, special
advisers and experts, with the assignment to put forward a proposition for a renewed benefit system
for those who fins them selves permanently or long-term or permanently unable to work full time
due to sickness or disabilities. This process of drawing up a committee directive, followed by an
investigation according to that directive is characteristic of the Swedish policy making process
(interview Eva Franzen). And this investigation was just one in a long line of previous investigations
according to previous directives, which describes the usual process of chiseling out sufficient
35
background information through repeated studies and investigations, so that satisfactory suggestions
can put forward as a legislative proposal.
The proposal for a new activation compensation and sickness-benefit scheme, as part of the social
security system, was proposed and passed as national legislation. The activation compensation
covers those between the ages 19-30 years old, who can be categorized as young adults, and who in
addition have a reduced working capacity due to sickness or disability for a longer period of time
(prop 2000/01:96). Already in the committee directives (Ds, 1997:9) for the government report on
early retirement, it was stated that special consideration was to be shown younger people with long-
term reduced working capacity. Social changes impacting the average age of labor market entrance
(due to prolonged average education) was one motive. Another was the will to provide opportunities
for those with disabilities to participate fully society. With regards to young people, it was stated in
the proposed bill that a longer timer perspective must be applied concerning the habilitation and
rehabilitation of those with disability or long-term illness. The idea was for the reform to encourage
young individuals to engage in habilitating or rehabilitating activities, and to remain active during
their youth (ibid.)
Start-up of Activity Compensation
In the process of law making in Sweden, the proposals for a bill are always sent out on referral to
different stakeholders in the field in question. Coming to a concluding list of stakeholder is a process
where lists of proposed relevant parties circulate the responsible department until a final draft can
be agreed upon (Interview Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, 2015-05-05). In general, the activity
compensation had broad support as a measure to provide a more active/activating measure for
young people with reduced working capacity rather than just retiring them, out of the labor market
at an early age. However, the referrals show that there were disagreements on the role of the main
implementing agent, the Swedish SIA as regards the coordinating responsibility of possible activities.
In general, there were concerns that the responsibilities of the Swedish SIA were unclear. The bill
states that while the SIA should encourage activation and habilitating/rehabilitating efforts, it must
be the responsibility of relevant actors and organizations in society on a broad front to work towards
encouraging and making available such activities for young people. When it comes to activities, the
main conflicts seemed to revolve around whether this should be a possibility or a responsibility, and
whether the appropriate activities should really be decided upon by the SIA, an assignment which
some stakeholders believes to promote a strong government perspective on the lives and
habilitation/rehabilitation of these individuals. A main concern is that the habilitating or
rehabilitating effect of activities requires there to be a broad range of them available, therefore it is
36
important that this possibility not be stifled by the SIA determining what activities could be useful
rather than the individual. For these reasons some think that the SIA shouldn’t be given such a
central task as coordinator of efforts for those receiving AC as mentioned, while others believe it to
be unfair that the individual should be handed the responsibility of coordinating the efforts he/she
has a right to. Regarding the concern that activities become conditional the government clearly
states that this will not be the case, rather the SIA is tasked with the responsibility to offer and make
suggestions of activities and coordinate them. There is a recognition that the individual will and
motivation are key to a successful activation, and therefore sanctioned activities are off the table.
Regarding compensation for activities that charge a fee, or where there are related travel costs,
there is no more than a mention that such compensation may in some cases be granted. There is no
further specification or recommendation as to how this should be assessed in practice. As
mentioned, the age of introduction was changed from 16 to 19, in order to follow the change in
average age of labor market entry. While stakeholders agreed on raising the age limit, referrals show
that different groups had opinions on what the new age limit should be, mainly regarding
coordination with other benefit systems and legislation. This demonstrates the relevance of
connected or adjacent policies, when designing (and implementing) new reforms. An important part
of the AC reform was the fact that it covered young people with disabilities in need of prolonged
secondary education. The conflicts regarding this part of the reform mainly revolved around whether
compensation should be study grants or AC, and whether AC should be possible to grant pupils
without assessing their work capacity. The government chose to disregard both this critique. Some
stakeholders also proposed that the AC should be available during higher studies as well (university-
level), as many young people with disabilities refrain from applying for study grants as they are afraid
of not being able to pay them back. In this instance the government states an understanding for the
plea, but chooses to not take a stand on the issue until it has been further researched.
Implementation
The main implementing agent has from the start been the Swedish SIA, since 2005 the previous 21
regional insurance agencies were replaced by a national SIA. Since 2009, the SEA is under supervision
of the Swedish social insurance inspectorate. They have since their establishment published two
reports on activity compensation, following up on their function and results. Judging from these two
reports, some areas that warrant concern regard the coordinating responsibility, the activity rate and
the in vs. outflow of persons to the activity compensation. Starting with the role of coordinator
delegated to the SIA, this does not seem to have functioned well. In 2007, the rightwing coalition
government appointed a special analyst to oversee the regulations of the AC and present preventive
measures to suppress further influx (Dir. 2007:183). What the report revealed was that merely 40%
37
of those with AC took part in any activity coordinated, suggested or initiated by the SIA, and of those
who did the majority were participating in the measure Daily Activity, granted by the municipal social
service, and were engaged in this activity before being granted AC (SOU 2008:102). In other words,
the SIAs involvement in coordinating, suggesting or assessing suitable activities has been largely
ignored. Three reasons for this stand out in the literature, organization, finances and competence. In
a follow-up as early as 2005 SIA agents were interviewed about the coordinating responsibility of the
AC, the organizational features mainly impacting this task were the degree of specialized work, and
whether there were substantial goals connected to the activation. Regarding the competence, it
proved that that simply getting in contact with the individuals, and then motivating and finding fitting
activities was far more complex and difficult than anticipated. The financial conditions seemed to
vary between municipalities, and during the budget-year, which clearly affected the possibility of
granting remuneration for activities (Försäkringskassan, 2005:12). The report from 2008 (SOU
2008:102) also mentions the fact that there is wide range in the number and forms of activations
available between different municipalities. This can be related back to the initial proposition for the
AC were the government clearly stated that developing and providing activities has to be a
responsibility shared by other stakeholders and service providers in society, yet without further
specifying who they refer to and how that responsibility should take form. Something which makes it
difficult to both evaluate and demand a certain response, with the risk of no one sufficiently
addressing said responsibility.
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the
innovations
The purpose of abolishing the early retirement policy and replacing it with a sickness-benefit scheme
and the activity compensation scheme was to decrease the social and labour market exclusion of
early retired young people (and people of working age), increase reintegration to employment and
change the direction of policies for this group from passive to active measures. This was undertaken
using several tools, the symbolic (and financial) act of moving this group from the retirement-system
to the social insurance system, actually assessing the capability of working continuously and
arranging for the possibility of staying active in the ways and to the extent that it was possible.
Looking at evaluations and studies on the output and outcomes of the activation compensation, the
most visible factors having impacted on the intentions of the AC and the formal tools for achieving
them, are the lacking cooperation structures and the introduction of AC for those qualifying for
prolonged-schooling. The cooperation difficulties have been noticed in government reports, SIA
reports and evaluations from the ISF. As was stated as early on as the proposition for the bill, there is
a need for actors outside of the SIA, both private and public, to develop, present and arrange
38
activities for this group. There also seems to be a lacking clarity and exactly what the coordinative
responsibility for these activities are for the SIA, and for the individual. As of today, the level of
activation taking place in planning and communication with the SIA for these clients is astoundingly
low (isf, 2011). Looking at the intention of reintegrating young people to the labour market is also a
goal that seems to have been counteracted in reality. With the numbers of people applying for AC
increasing, without the outflow doing so, the number of young people in this category keeps
growing. In 2009, 80% of 19 year olds granted AC were automatically qualified on grounds of
prolonged schooling for youth with intellectual disabilities (ISF, 2011). The fact that many of them
may stay within the scheme after having left school, due to diminished working capacity, combined
with the increase of pupils to schools for intellectually disabled places great pressure on the SIA and
political forces to respond. At this time, the AC is functioning as precisely the type of passive schemes
locking people in that was sought to be abolished in the first place.
Conclusion
The literature suggests both an increase in influx to the AC over the past few years combined with a
small share in efflux, which is worrisome as this excludes or “locks-in” young people from the labor
market over an extended period of time. In addition, the activation feature of this innovation which
was supposed to support and encourage the conditions for increased work capacity through
habilitation or rehabilitation, has clearly failed. The rate of activation among the AC recipients and
the coordinating function of the SIA have little to show for. The government report from 2008 (SOU
2008:102) on the AC, as well as one from 2013 (SOU 2013: 74) on NEETs made several suggestions on
how to address these issues including new forms of legislation. No such proposal has yet been put
forward to parliament.
39
Job guarantee for youth
Introduction & Background
The job guarantee for youth was introduced along with the shift in government in 2006, when the
right-wing coalition government called the Alliance took office. The Alliance presented numbers on
the high youth unemployment as an argument for their effort to reform labor market efforts for this
group. In their government bill proposing the job-guarantee for youth they include figures from
Statistics Sweden, showing that between 2001-2006 youth unemployment had risen from an average
of 38000 to 70000 individuals per month. With the introduction of the job-guarantee for youth,
previous efforts for unemployed youth called the youth-guarantee and the municipal youth
programs were abolished. The municipal youth programs made it possible for a municipality to
arrange internships or other similar activities for unemployed youth under the age of 20 not enrolled
in upper secondary school or comparable education. The youth-guarantee was also a municipal
programs aimed at unemployed youth, part of the labour force between the ages of 20-25 who had
been unemployed for 90 days. Similar to the new job-guarantee for youth, both the previous
municipal youth programs and the youth guarantee were to begin with guidance and job-search
activities, but now far more intensified, for a longer duration of time and connected to sanctions. The
target group for the new job-guarantee for youth is unemployed young people between the ages of
16-24 who have been registered at the unemployment office for 90 days. If assigned to the job-
guarantee for youth, a young person must participate in order to keep receiving remuneration from
the unemployment office. This requirement is a significant part of what separates the new job
guarantee from the old youth guarantee. The main implementer of the job-guarantee is the
unemployment office, which has been centralized and is now a government run agency since 200817.
During the first 6 months of the year 2011, 53% of all youth registered at the PES were enreolled in
the job-guarantee for youth. This amounted to an average of 2 billion SEK (Martinsson & Sibbmark,
2010b).
Initiating the reform
The job guarantee for young people (16-24) was introduced with the aim to reinforce job-search
activity, followed by a matching process and complemented with reinforcing efforts such as training
or education but also involves a strengthened work incentive by quicker reducing benefit
compensations (stick and carrot). The purpose is to help unemployed youth enter the labour market
at an early stage, partly with the effort to avoid longer spells of, and more permanent long-term
unemployment (Prop: 2006/07:118). This could be interpreted as the Aliance government seeing
17
http://www.arbetsformedlingen.se/Om-oss/Var-verksamhet/Allmant-om-oss/Historia.html
40
shorter spells of unemployment as less of a risk for this group, either because of its shorter duration
which may lead to it being assessed as less severe or because it was not expected to occur to any
greater degree. While the government propose that part-time unemployed youth or youth with
temporary employments should not be targeted by the job-guarantee, all youth who are part of the
target group and are entitled to unemployment benefits, regardless of it’s scope, should be included
on the same conditions regarding remuneration, regardless of differences in what scope of
unemployment benefit their unemployment insurance has granted them so far. The reasons for this
according to the Alliance government, is to insure the possibilities of providing financial incentives for
young people to find work (ibid.). The Alliance government referred to a government report on
labour market efforts for youth, concluding that job-search activities are the most cost-effective
measure to help youth enter into employment, and that higher demands on job-search activities
have had positive effects in other countries, for ex. In Denmark and GB where this type of measure is
described as having helped youth move from unemployment to employment at a quicker pace.
Most of the agenda setting process took place before the government took office; the job guarantee
for youth was part of the political platform than the Rightwing coalition ran on. They took office in
the fall of 2006, and announced in their first budget proposal for 2006/2007 the discontinuation of
the Municipal youth programs and youth guarantee and the introduction of a job guarantee for
youth. Unlike what is common in the procedure of proposing a bill, the job guarantee for youth was
not the result of a government report or committee having looked in to the matter of policy reforms
for unemployed youth. However, the proposal was sent out on referral to a number of stakeholders.
In the submission for comment on the government bill, a lack of conformity around certain aspects
of the job-guarantee for youth was brought forward. The negative comments where mostly
regarding the conditionality of and sanctions connected to the program, and the lower benefit rate
for non-graduates of upper secondary education. While the late National Labour Market Board
(today the Public Employment Service) and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises (Svenskt
Näringsliv) fully supported adopting the law as proposed, the National Board of health and Welfare,
and the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society), the Swedish Associations of Local authorities,
the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees and Regions (TCO) and the Swedish Agency for
Public Management were all concerned that 90 days was too long of a time to make young
unemployed people wait for efforts. On the other hand, both the Institute for Evaluation of Labour
market and Education Policy (IFAU) and the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations
(SACO) stated that they find the content of the job guarantee for youth more suitable to help
unemployed youth than the previous youth guarantee and municipal youth programs (Prop:
41
2006/07:118). It is however unclear if this means that they do not have any reservations regarding
the job-guarantee for youth. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) was the only consultative
body motioning for the bill not to be passed. LO along with SACO was also concerned that the job-
guarantee for youth might encourage young people to prolong their education period up to the age
of 25, while the Public Authority for Education Development were instead concerned that it might
discourage students from enrolling in and completing an upper secondary education (ibid). The
critique that lowered benefit rate for those under 25 may lead to prolonged education was dismissed
by the government saying that the likelihood of employment will affect student motivation more
than the unemployment benefit rate. As a response to concerns that the guarantee being
introduced at the age of 16 will risk increasing drop-outs form upper secondary education, the
government pointed to the importance of benefit levels not exceeding that of student grants, as it is
important that the regulations don’t undercut the incentives to find work and engage in activation
measures.
The government mostly point to the importance of cooperation, which is brought up as an essential
part of the function of measures against youth unemployment. This is revisited in later government
reports and follow-ups of policy responses to youth unemployment. In most of these, the
cooperation is described as underdeveloped and largely malfunctioning (Interview at Stockholm
Labour Administration, 2015-04-22). One of the directors at the municipal labour market agency in
Stockholm confirms this, and gives a recount of cooperation with the unemployment agency as
fragmented.
Implementation
The government run PES is the main government body in charge of the implementation. The
guidelines are developed from government goals through the yearly letters of regulation, to the
managerial staff drawing up goals for the agency to work toward. The reform is primarily regulated
by the ordinance on the job guarantee for youth.
Already in the submissions for comments on the proposed bill, the Swedish National Agency for
Education were concerned with the division of responsibilities between the municipalities and the
Public Employment Service as both actors have a responsibility for youth under the age of 20 who
have not completed an upper secondary education (Prop: 2006/07:118). The municipalities have a
responsibility to keep them selves informed about the occupation of youth between 16-19 years old
who are not partaking in an upper secondary education in order to offer them suitable individual
42
measures (Skolverket, 2011). The former Board for Youth matters also express their concern
regarding what responsibilities these two actors have in relation to the municipal information-
obligation. The Alliance government has clarified that the job-guarantee for youth in no way
precludes or replaces the municipal information-obligation, which should be an ongoing
responsibility where as the job-guarantee is to be seen as intensified measures which are also tied to
a certain period of unemployment (3 months) unlike the information-obligation. They also stress the
importance of a close collaboration between municipalities and the Public Employment Service (PES)
(Prop: 2006/07:118), there is however no closer description of how this collaboration should take
place and where the responsibility for assuring such collaboration lies.
Sources of finance
In the proposed bill for a job guarantee for youth, the financial consequences are described in terms
of number of expected participants per month and implications for the budget. For the year 2008,
the job-guarantee for youth is expected to cover roughly 30 000 young people per month, and it was
deemed possible to implement the program within the allocated funds for the Swedish NEA, as
specified in the national budget proposal. The specific funding for the NEA is regulated in the so
called regulatory letter provided by the government on a year by year basis.
Assessment of the influence of different factors and parameters on the performance of the
innovations
The intention of the Job Guarantee for Youth (JGY) introduced in 2007 was to create a more coherent
battery of measures that were also more cost-efficient and provided a speedier process from
unemployment to employment for young people (Ds. Promemoria; 2006). This was to be achieved in
part by restructuring the provision of youth measures from the local municipalities to the state PES
and focusing on job-search. Looking at an evaluation from the IFAU, it seems that one of the most
important factors helping to achieve this is the fact that the job-search was mandatory for all and
regulated at a state level meaning that it applied nation-wide. The deterring effect from facing the
risk of having to partake in full time mandatory job-search seemed to have increased job-search to
the extent that those not too far from the labour market gained employment before the point in
time when they would have had to partake in the guarantee. In other words it is not so much
activities in the program itself, as the filtering effect manifested just prior to when a young person
would have had to start the program, that has had positive effect. Looking at the evaluation, it is also
clear that over 63% of participants put in no more than 10h per week (Martinsson & Sibbmark,
2010b). In other words, it is in practice not a full time program. In an interview with Anders Forslund
(2015-06-17), professor and director at the IFAU, he reasons that the lacking in personnel resources
43
within the PES may be a reason for why the program effect for those actually participating in the
program has been so bleak. In an interview at the PES headquarters in Stockholm (2015-06-24), the
lacking in personnel resources to aid participants in the program more extensively is verified. In fact,
the Ministry of Labor has been briefed on the lacking resources and has not disputed their accuracy
or legitimacy but referred to a lack of resources to allocate. In other word there is both knowledge
and admittance of this deficit within the program and its likely consequences, but reallocating
resources to increase staffing levels to this program has evidently not been a priority.
Conclusion
The results from the Job Guarantee for youth are so far quite bleak, with the main effect being a
deterring effect by which the confrontation with having to enter the program increases job-search in
the weeks before mandatory entry. This filters out those who are able to find work by intensified job-
search. But the lack of personnel resources within the actual program is a significant problem, and as
there is awareness of this at central level it demonstrates a disregard for better aiding those young
people who need extensive support to gain work. It is possible that the swift push-through of the bill
may have had the consequence of not sufficiently planning and scrutinizing the forms for
implementing the Job Guarantee for Youth. In the proposed bill, only one referral body commented
that there should be at least a six month window for dismantling the previous program before
introducing the new one. This comment was disregarded (prop.2006/07:118).
Synthetic analysis
Looking at the innovations presented, they clearly demonstrate trends in governance on both a
vertical level where dispersal of powers has shifted between municipal, regional and central level,
and a horizontal level where a multiplication of actors is expressed both by virtue of the reform on
Complementary Actors, but also present in projects and collaborations within the realm of, or
connected to the other reforms.
Regarding the role of social partners, trade unions and employer organization are sometimes
consulted in the preparatory government reports often preceding new legislation, as in the case with
Gy11. They are also standardly included among the referral bodies to which bill proposals are sent
for feedback before possibly revised and presented to the parliament. However, the impact of social
partners on the design of the bill varies. In the case of Gy11 the rightwing coalition government had
proposed a quite extensive reform agenda concerning upper secondary school already during their
election campaign, which indicates a limited amount of leeway in design and content of the reform
44
when sent out for referral. Looking at the referral comments, a large portion regards the introduction
of an apprenticeship program where both employer organizations and unions express concern and
support in different specific matters. Another reform pushed through by the rightwing coalition was
the Job Guarantee for Youth, which was not preceded by a government report on the bill and where
the referral round was conducted with a shorter response-time than usual. This infringes on the
general input provided for stakeholders, including social partners. Among the comment there were
both employer organizations and unions critiquing and backing the proposal. The only referral body
wholly dismissing the bill was one of the largest umbrella organizations for unions, LO (The Swedish
Trade Union Confederation). Regarding the Activity Compensation, two large umbrella organizations
were critical of having the SIA determine what is/is not suitable activities for the participants, to
which the government responded to alter the suggestion so that the SIA would be responsible for
suggesting or offering activities to the participants. However, as stated in an interview at the SIA
head office in Stockholm (2015-06-23), the legislation is not very precise leaving the SIA and their
legal advisors to interpret and create guidelines after the bill is passed. This means that there is
generally some leeway between legal text and guidelines informing the day-to-day work, in which
the concerns made by referral bodies may be undercut. In conclusion, while there is a procedure by
which social partners may make their voices heard, the number of instances and time allotted for this
is not specifically regulated and the government is not obligated to adjust the bill according to the
opinions of any referral bodies. It may however serve as a soft-tool of allowing influence from
stakeholders such as social partners. Specifically in cases where they are clearly aligned with a
specific party or party-line.
On the vertical level, a dispersion of power from local, mainly municipal level to state level is
demonstrated within two of the innovations targeting youth: the Upper Secondary School reform
(Gy11), the Job Guarantee for Youth. The clearest case of centralization is in the Job Guarantee for
Youth. With the abolition of the municipal activation programs and the PES run Youth Guarantee, the
active role of the municipalities in youth employment policies was severely undercut, to point of
almost being reduced. During the previous Youth Guarantee, the PES would provide financial
compensation to the municipalities for youth assigned to their programs (Interview at Stockholm
Labour Administration, 2015,04-22). As pointed out in interviews at both the Ministry for
employment (2015-06-16) and the Stockholm municipality Labour Administration (2015-04-22), this
was a great concern for the municipalities already in the stages of preparing the bill, and the critique
that is visible in the referral bodies replies to it. Along with the changes made in unemployment
benefits at the time, making it more difficult for young people with little work experience to qualify,
this has also had the consequence of shoveling financial responsibilities in to the municipalities in
45
terms of young unemployed people forced to apply for social welfare benefits. As pointed out by an
economist at the ESF, this puts pressure on the municipalities to create labour market responses to
get these young people in to employment. Part of the shift in power from municipal to national level
was also the prohibition of the national PES to compensate the municipalities for providing labour
market programs when the PES could assign unemployed youth. Thus leaving the municipalities with
an increased financial burden, and a decreased ability to act. This change is something that also
deprives the municipalities of their municipal-autonomy, which is a long-standing upheld principle in
the Swedish governing structure. In the upper secondary school reform the possibility for
municipalities to decide on local courses in different schools was abolished. The reason was to have a
better insight into and knowledge about the education alternatives offered, providing better
possibilities of monitoring and evaluating, and also achieving the goal of an equal education cross-
nationally. This strengthened the role of the state and central public agencies tied to the educations
system.
An innovation somewhat counteracting this trend is FINSAM, which has developed local coordination
systems of rehabilitation measures. In 2014, FINSAM had 88 associations involving 240 of Sweden’s
290 municipalities. While interviews with those involved in these collaborations speak of their
progression and spread, as well as an interest from those not (yet) involved, it is difficult to say
whether it has had any substantial impact on rehabilitation measures on a wider scale. An example is
the Activity Compensation, which has been a growing program since its initiation in 2003. The
involvement of FINSAM has mainly been as the financier of time-limited projects at local level,
whereas implementation of successful methods from these projects at national level has so far been
sparse (Interview at SIA, 2015-06-23). This means that the usage of FINSAM for coordination of
Activity Compensation on a national scale is largely absent, in spite the knowledge of FINSAM and
participation in FINSAM-projects for the target group of Activity Compensation. This demonstrates
the difficulties in overcoming the national - local division of governing.
On the horizontal level there has been an in increase in private actors manifested on the one hand in
a cooperation, and on the other hand a fragmentation of measures offered. The ordinance on
complementary actors is the most telling example among our five innovations of how the number of
actors has increased through privatization of the provision of labour market measures. This
regulation has pushed the Swedish PES to implement part of their reforms, for example the Job
Guarantee for Youth, by using private actors. The financing of these complementary actors is mainly
based on a set payment at the start and a performance based payment. Evaluations indicate that
those with longer spells of unemployment are more often using service within the PES, while those
46
with shorter spells of unemployment are more often found at Complementory Actors. Given that the
choice between PES services and CA services is not always up to the individual but the PES, this
difference may be a so called creaming effect. This essentially means that unemployed too far from
the labour market are not assigned to CA as this would reflect poorly on their results. In any case the
introduction of private actors visible through the ordinance on complementary actors as well as the
Job Guarantee for Youth demonstrate a loss of power from public administration to the advantage of
private interests through a process of fragmentation (see pp.22). This also indicates a dispersal of
power to private actors at mid- to grasroot levels within the administrative structure of the PES.
Beyond the trends in governing structures there is a general lack in resources at both central and
local level, primarily regarding implementation but also the design and development of new reforms.
The ordenance of complementary actors was assigned by the government to be implemented at
national level within the PES, while lacking any developed methods or pathways of finding, assessing
and procuring these actors. Similarly the Job Guarantee for Youth was implemented after a very brief
referral round in terms of time allotted for the referral bodies to respond with comments, the
amount of time for developing the reform at the Ministry of Labour and the implementing agency,
the Swedish PES. Insufficient time in these processes is visible regarding the Upper Secondary School
reform as well. As described in an interview at the NAE (2015-04-14), the conditions of the
implementation process presented to the NAE were that it basically shouldn’t cost a dime. In
addition, evaluations of the implementation at schools around the country show a high rate of
teachers felt that neither the time allotted nor the information provided was sufficient. From an
institutional perspective this demonstrates the power located at the central state, as it has a strong
hold over the framework of resources (time, money and competence) that local levels have to work
within.
47
Processes of policy learning in Sweden
The policy learning infrastructure
Most legislative proposals presented to the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) are initiated by the
Government. Before the Government can draw up a legislative proposal, the matter in question is
analyzed and evaluated. The task may be assigned to officials from the ministry concerned, a
commission of inquiry or a one-man committee. This tradition of inquiries has a long history and goes
back to 1922. Inquiry bodies, which operate independently of the Government, may include or co-
opt experts, public officials and politicians. The reports setting out their conclusions are published in
the Swedish Government Official Reports series (Statens Offentliga Utredningar, SOU). Before the
Government takes up a position on the recommendations of a commission of inquiry, its report is
referred for consideration to relevant bodies. These referral bodies may be central government
agencies, special interest groups, local government authorities or other bodies whose activities may
be affected by the proposals. This process provides feedback and allows the Government to assess
the level of support it is likely to receive. If a number of referral bodies respond unfavorably to the
recommendations, the Government may try to find an alternative solution. When the referral bodies
have submitted their comments, the ministry responsible drafts the bill that will be submitted to the
Riksdag. The including of expertise from different areas, as well as interest groups and other levels of
government in the preparation for legislative proposals creates a very thorough but also inclusive
process. The review procedure is also a way of creating as great consensus as possible in the process
of law making. However, the government are in their full right to dismiss critique and opinions put
forward by the referall bodies, and referral bodies may very well express critique when their
concerns are ignored. These are not uncommon occurrences. The review process can rather be seen
as a soft tool to achieve consensus as the governing party often rules as a minority government with
supporting parties. They are thereby dependent on a sufficient degree of common ground with these
parties, and making necessary concessions to achieve a bill which can be passed (depending off
course on their mandate in parliament and how close/far they are positioned from supporting
parties).
In addition, a growing interest in integrating evaluations, audits, and scientific studies in public policy
can be observed during the last 15/20 years. This is noticeable in terms and demands of "what
works" and "evidence-based policy". Evaluations of policies, i.e. the search for good decision basis,
has become widespread and new types of agencies have been established (eg, IAF), but most of all
existing authorities were assigned new demands to evaluate, not least through the reporting
requirements that are built in performance management (Ahlbäck & Öberg 2011). One of the most
48
important auditing bodies in Sweden is the National Audit Office (NAO). They are the official, auditing
body of all public authorities in Sweden, and their status as an independent auditing body is
established in the Swedish constitution. They perform both scheduled yearly revisions, and
performance audits where they are free to decide on the areas and issues most in need of such
audits. While the parliament and government are not obligated to adhere to the agency’s
recommendations, they are obligated to present to the parliament how they intend to deal with the
problems or insufficiencies put forward18.
A third way of policy learning is local experiments. These took place for example in the 1990s when
municipalities developed various local models in how to work with the increasing number of social
assistance (Minas 2008). Another example is the need to create formal conditions for joint
interventions across agency boundaries around people of working age that had been unemployed for
a long time. Also here efforts started in the 1990’s in form of local experiments. Since the year 2000,
Sweden established the Swedish ESF-fund which operates at the mandate of the Ministry of Labour
and the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and administers money from EU-funds, such as the
European Social Fund. In accordance with EU-directives for the funds, the ESF advertices means for
different project areas which may be applied for by municipalities and organisations at local level.
Upper Secondary School reform
Before the proposed bill on the Upper secondary reform of 2011 was presented, there was both a
committee assigned to look into how the upper secondary education could be reformed, and one
specifically interested in developing apprenticeships programs which were at that time not a part of
the upper secondary education. When it comes to both vocational training programs and
apprenticeships programs, news coverage, government reports and publications, as well as think
tanks and research agencies have pointed out other European countries as good examples and
sources of inspiration (SNS, 2014; SOU 2011:72). Most often mentioned are the models from
continental Europe, focusing on Germany and Switzerland. The Danish system is also a point of
reference as it is the country with the most extensive vocational and apprenticeship program among
the Nordic countries (SNS, 2014). One of the key elements of these successful examples mentioned is
to develop an apprenticeship and vocational training which better corresponds to the demands on
the labor market, something which is sought to be achieved via an extended involvement of firms,
enterprises and business sectors in the development and design of these programs. While the idea is
to encourage social partners and individual businesses to engage more in this process, the
18
http://www.riksdagen.se/en/How-the-Riksdag-works/What-does-the-Riksdag-do/Parliamentary-control/The-
National-Audit-Office/
49
government is suggested to take greater responsibility for encouraging employers to develop specific
introductory employments attached to these programs, so that a student graduating from vocational
or apprenticeship training program may stay on at the business in question as a “tutorial-employee”
with lower wage but more on-the-job education (SNS, 2014). This is clearly an idea developed from
looking at the German system, where firms are engaged in providing apprenticeships program for
students as they then get to hang on to them and train them, further as employees but at a lower
wage cost. Thus gaining workforce specifically educated for the needs of that firm/business.
Audits are performed by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (SSI), and evaluations and follow ups are
the responsibility of the NAE. The NAE also promotes and develops Evidence based practices for
different levels of education. The Swedish Associations of Local and Regional Authorities produce and
present comparative evaluations of upper secondary education on a yearly basis since 2008. The
Government also has expert groups gathering and reporting on evidence and learning from other
countries, for example the expert group for studies in social economy (ESS, 2006) which in 2006
presented a report on lessons and inspiration from other European countries regarding
apprenticeship programs.
The apprenticeship programs were introduced as trials in a selected number of municipalities in
2008, lasting for three years, and under continuous supervision of the government assigned
committee for apprenticeships programs (SOU 2011:72). In fact, since the apprenticeships education
was introduced in Sweden in 1921 (at this time not as a part of regular school forms), it has been
introduced, retracted, reintroduced and reformed a number of times. Since the 90’s several pilot
projects have been introduced, and some prolonged, aiming to find a form for this branch of
education that would be most suitable for students and employers. Some of the problematic aspects
of these attempts have been insufficient financial compensation for employers, low level of
business/firm involvement in the design and implementation of vocational- and apprenticeship
programs, lacking interest among both students at employers, and lack of correspondence between
demand in labour force and competence and available apprenticeships programs. Looking at the
form for the extended vocational training and apprenticeship programs, there is an apparent attempt
to involve employers to a greater extent in the content and size of the programs, which has been a
problem in previous projects. However, the low number of applicant to these programs reveals a
continued low interest among students19 As regards the financial compensation; the regulations
19
Since 2008 the share applying for occupational programs has decreased from 37% to 27% in 2014.
The numbers are based on statistics gathered by the NAE:
50
state a fixed sum to be allocated to the schools per student partaking in an apprenticeship program.
The financing may be used to cover developmental expenses at the school and costs for business
who take in an apprenticeship-student. The idea was for the financial contribution to cover added
expenses for the businesses, but as shown by the evaluation of trials with apprenticeship programs,
the largest sum has been retained by the schools themselves. Initially some schools kept all of the
financial benefits, but this is no longer possible as regulations have been altered so that no more
than 2/3 of the benefit may remain at the individual schools (SOU 2011: 72). The learning process in
efforts made to establish a successful apprenticeship program within Swedish upper secondary
school, has to some degree been fueled by the problems and critique brought to the surface during
the past few decades. From the 80’s and forward, alterations have been made in financial
compensation to employers, the structure of programs where apprenticeship placements were to be
available, and the degree of work-placed versus school-based education. All of which has followed
unsatisfying results of pilot projects or permanent changes, and the analysis of these results (ESS
2006:4).
Other local experiences within the realm of upper secondary education can be found within the
realm of ESF -funded projects at municipal level. The NAE also have an external national monitoring
keeping up to date with different projects or work processes that have been particularly successful.
Activity compensation
The introduction of the activity compensation was preceded by two government reports, where one
focused on suggested reforms to be introduced if the early retirement was abolished (SOU
1997:166), and the other focused solely on activity compensation (SOU 1998:106). While there is
reference to medical research showing activity to enhance rehabilitation and habilitaion while
passivity has the opposite effect, there is no reference to countries or specific studies. The
development toward an activity compensation for youth have been incremental, with discussions
about the age-limits for early retirement and the risk of passivity among young people in early
retirement dating back to the 50’s. Primarily the development of AC is described as an effect of a
changing labor market and more inclusive and expanded handicap-policy, alongside varying efforts to
maintain sufficient income protection for those unable to participate fully on the labor market.
The regulatory agency for the SIA is the inspection of the social insurance directorate (ISF). The ISF
evaluate and monitor the effectiveness and efficiency in the area of social insurance and is a public
administrative body under the ministry of social policy. They were established in 2009 and have so
http://www.skolverket.se/om-skolverket/press/pressmeddelanden/2014/allt-farre-elever-pa-yrkesprogram-
1.227603
51
far conducted two studies on the function of the AC. In addition there have been three government
reports since the AC was introduced, suggesting changes to the program but also studying its
implementation and function in terms of cooperation between SIA and the PES. In a government
follow-up report from 2008 (SOU, 2008:102), AC was proposed to be replaced by sickness insurance
for youth which would target those who are assessed unable to participate on the labor market for
the foreseeable future. Here, the goals of Swedish disability policy is suggested to replace the goals
of social insurance policy. The reason being that those who will never be able to gain employment
risk a lifetime of poverty due to the principle that social insurance benefits should be kept low
enough to make gainful employment the more attractive choice. In addition, the report proposed
that those who need prolonged schooling receive benefits via prolonged education grant, and that
the rest of the target group ought to be in the hands of the PES rather than the SIA. These
suggestions are in line with an interpretation of active labor market policy which pushes for
increased employment related activation and education, combined with a stricter assessment of
access to sole financial protection. The need for reform of the AC is supported by the ISF as well, as
their first follow-up on the AC in 2011 showed the number of recipients to have doubled since 1995
with over 30 000 people receiving AC in 2011, combined with less than 1% of recipients leaving the
AC for regular employment between 1995-2005. The suggestions made in the government report
from 2008 (SOU 2008:102) have yet to be proposed in any bill. As mentioned in an interview at the
Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (2015-05-19), the grounds for neglecting conclusions and
recommendations of a government tasked report may be that it contradicts the party line, but may
just as well be a matter of priorities in terms of resources available for proposing different policy
changes. In addition to external evaluations and follow-ups, the SIAalso perform self evaluations and
follow ups on their different programs.
In connection to some of the general developments in areas of social insurance and labor market
policies, and to the critique brought forward in evaluations and follow ups of the AC during the 21st
century, a number of pilot projects have been initiated by assignment of the government. In 2008 the
government assigned the SIA and PES to initiate on a trial basis, alternative actors to aid those on
long-term sickleave in returning to the labor market. Alternative actors were introduced in four
Swedish regions, to provide support for people in the process of regaining working capacity and
gaining regular employment, within a model where the actors received remuneration based on
performance and results. Between 2008-2010, 3060 people participated, of which roughly half
received aid form private actors and roughly half from public actors20. The results however, showed
20
Private actors: 1571 participants; Public actors: 1489 participants; Third sector actors: 223 participants
52
no support for the performance-based model to impact results or content among private or public
actors (SOU, S2010:4). In another project instigated by the government to increase and speed-up
return to employment among those on sickness-benefits, the SIA and the PES were to develop more
efficient routines for assessing work-capacity, measures for rehabilitation and support in returning to
work. After being developed as a pilot project, the program was introduced on national level.
However, a very small portion of the target group, and especially small for instance among those on
AC, were assessed as having sufficient work-capacity to return to employment (ibid.).
In an interview at SIA headquarters in Stockholm (2015-06-23), the agency is described as having a
history of working in project forms in order to try out and/or develop new models and methods of
working. Some of these are based on lessons drawn from other countries, such as Supported
Employment and Individual Placement Support, which are both methods developed in the US. In
2013 the government assigned the SIA to conduct and evaluate the effects of projects using
supported employment methods in their work with young people receiving Activity Compensation
(Interview at SIA, 2015-06-23). Beyond this, there are within the SIA several project areas, where
best practices and knowledge production act as the basis for policy learning by inviting municipalities
and regions to apply for funds in order to apply competence, strategies or other useful tools to their
daily practice. One of these is the AFU (assessment of activity capacity), a pilot project initiated in
2013. The AFU is a tool for work capacity assessment developed by the SIA, the national board of
health and welfare and the Swedish employment agency. The work assessment is a main part of the
base on which the SIA grounds its decision when granting, for instance, Activity Compensation. The
tool encompasses self-assessment, medical and psychological evaluation and a knowledge base on
labor market requirements for comparison and can be seen both as a way of spreading best
practices, and as a way of streamlining assessments and gaining better control and overview of what
the SIA bases their decisions on. In addition to this, several ESF-projects and also FINSAM projects
have targeted the group of youth who are benefit recipients of Activity Compensation (Interview at
SIA, 2015-06-23). As described in the interview at SIA headquarters, the SIA have on broad front
started to focus on continuously implementing successful areas and lessons drawn from projects into
the day-to-day work within the agency (2015-06-23).
The job guarantee for youth
The idea for the reform was designed as part of the party platform and reform-agenda during the
election campaign before the right-wing coalition was in office. According to Anders Forslund (2015-
06-17), the reform was most likely designed, at least in part, by the labour market researchers of the
53
conservative party Moderaterna, and more or less ready to be launched by the time they took office.
This is supported by the fact that unlike what is common in the process of legislating on new reforms,
the job Guarantee for youth was not preceded by assigning a task force or committee to study and
present a basis for designing the new reform. However, the memorandum for the proposed bill
refers to a government report partly studying labour market measures for unemployed youth.
Referring to this report, the memorandum concludes that success factors for reducing youth
unemployment in a cost-efficient way are guidance, mentoring, and most of all job-search activities,
preferably with negative incentives attached. Lessons from other countries are also visible, the
memorandum refers to a government report on labour market measures where both Denmark and
the UK serve as examples of countries where intensified job-search has lead to decrease in youth
unemployment. The bill proposal was sent out for referrals in the end of 2006, only a few months
after the right-wing alliance government had won the election. In fact, the time for referral of the bill
was quite short in relation to what is common, something which the government was also criticized
for by the referral bodies.
Aside from lessons from other countries and international research, the proposal to abolish the prior
Youth guarantee and municipal youth programs was also based on evaluations and audits by public
offices and research institutes. The main argument found in the evaluations was that the previous
programs had substantial lock-in effects, making the time to gain employment longer as an effect of
participating in a labour market program. The other argument revolved around the great variety in
what measures were actually offered (or not offered) in different municipalities, and lack of
knowledge both regarding what took place in these programs, and an oversight of the range in
programs available around the country (Interview at IFAU, 2015-06-17; Interview at Department of
labour, 2015-06-16). Instead lessons from the UK and Denmark were presented and partly simulated
in the new job guarantee for youth, were the initial face of the program was now intensified job-
search. This has had the effect of weeding out those who in fact stand quite close to the labour
market. As a response to the risk of ending up in the mandatory, full-time job search through the job-
guarantee after being unemployed for 90 days, at the end of their 90 day period most youth intensify
their job-search on their own with the result that those who do not stand far from the labour market
gain employment before the job guarantee is meant to set in. This was most likely, according to
professor Anders Forslund (Interview at IFAU, 205-06-17) no coincidence, as the lay-up of the
program it pretty much a blue print for how to design programs for getting young people into jobs as
effective as possible. Still, this means that those more marginalized on the labour market are those
who will actually be entering the program, and evaluations show that very few of them actually get
full-time aid in getting a job at the PES. One interpretation is that these results are due to a lack of
54
resources allocated to the PES, leaving them unable to provide full-time programs for these youth
(ibid). Beside the government’s own reports, there is the research institute under the Swedish
ministry of employment, IFAU (Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education). While their
activity is budgeted and framed by the ministry of employment, through a letter of regulation, they
have a high level of independence in how and what studies they wish to conduct (ibid). In 2010 and
2011 they conducted two studies on the job-guarantee for youth, one on the experiences of youth in
the guarantee, and the other and effect study on the outcome of participating in the program.
One of the inputs told repeatedly by the IFAU to the department of labour is to initially implement
larger reforms in a smaller scale, as projects, which are possible to evaluate. In this case, the reform
was instead implemented faster than what is usual.
General conclusion
When it comes to policy learning there are visible processes at both central and local level, they do
however look a bit different in processes, type of knowledge taken in and spread, as well as different
forms of likely impact.
At central level, reports and committees are the bulk of the state government processes of learning
and spreading knowledge. Within these, there are different channels used, most common seem to be
the use of experts and researchers, but also experiences from other countries. In the event of the
upper secondary reform we can see that the input, experience and knowledge from business and
industrial sectors has had, and continues to have an impact on the design, content and revision of
the occupational programs. There is, as described, a process at government level of including lower
levels of government in the aim of achieving as broad support as possible for a proposed bill.
However, the experiences from the job guarantee for youth, and to some extent also the upper
secondary school reform are examples of how the government may more or less rush through this
process and propose a bill without much preceding dialog. This demonstrates the authoritative
power that still rests with the central government.
At local level, we fond more of experiment, pilot-projects and time-limited trials. These are often
ESF-funded (and to some extent FINSAM-funded) projects. When it comes to these types of
experiments, there is critique from other agencies and research institutes that there is a lack in
proper and thorough evaluations of these projects, which is instrumental if lessons from them are to
be spread to ongoing activities in different agencies and levels of government (Interview at IFAU,
55
2015-06-17; Interview at Almega21 2015-04-15). However there are examples of when the
government gives an assignment to initiate a project, or when government run agencies conduct
projects. Examples of this is the trail period for apprenticeship programs which was initiated by the
right-wing government and headed as well as evaluated by a government appointed committee, and
also the current project at the SIA where the government has ordered an evaluative project of
supported employment methods (Interview at the SIA, 2015-06-23).
21
Almega is an employer and trade organisation for the Swedish service sector.
56
Interviews performed for WP4
National Council for Financial Coordination (2 persons from the National Social Insurance Agency,
Cooperation association Huddinge, Salem and Botkyrka
Official from the Government office (coordination)
Representative for the National Council for Financial Coordination and coordination association in
South Sweden
Official from the Government office (unit for finance)
Former policy officer from PES I2,
The Swedish Trade union confederation,
Almega – employer and trade organisation for the Swedish service sector
The Swedish National Agency for Education
Stockholm Labour Administration
Swedish ESF-council
Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
Ministry of Labour
The Swedish Social Insurance Agency
The Swedish Public Employment Service
57
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Underlagsrapport till den parlamentariska socialförsäkringskassan. Socialdepartementet
SOU (2011:72) Gymnasial lärlingsutbildning - med fokus på kvalitet! Utbildningsdepartementet
SOU (2013:74) Unga som varken arbetar eller studerar – statistik, stöd och samverkan.
Utbildningsdepartementet
59
Statskontoret (1997:27) Perspektiv på rehabilitering. Statskontoret, Stockholm.
Statskontoret (2005) Den första tiden med Finsam. Finansiell samordning inom
rehabiliteringsområdet. Statskontoret 2005:10
Statskontoret (2006) Fortsättningen med Finsam – målgrupper, insatser och arbetsformer.
Statskontoret 2006: Statskontoret, Stockholm.
Statskontoret (2007) Finsam rapport 3. Uppföljning av finansiell samordning inom
rehabiliteringsområdet. Statskontoret 2007:6. Statskontoret, Stockholm.
Statskontoret (2008:16) Effekter av Finsam? Statskontoret, Stockholm.
Swedish Public Radio, (2012), Ekot, Katarina Helmersson, 2012-02-10.
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=4958470
Upper secondary school ordenance, (2010:2039), Gathered on the 15th of June 2015 from
http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Lagar/Svenskforfattningssamling/Gymnasieforordning-
20102039_sfs-2010-2039/
Öhrvall R (2011) Privata aktörer inom arbetsförmedling och rehabilitering. SNS Analys Nr 11. 2013.