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Over the next year, the employment service will fundamentally change. Much of the job placement itself should be handed over to external actors and the authority should rather be devoted to monitoring, analyzing and evaluating labor market policy.
One step in the preparations is a pilot project in 32 municipalities of the Equip and Match service where external actors through individual support will equip the unemployed and give them employment.
DN has taken note of the results of the project thus far, and has been in contact with a number of external service providers who are critical of the compensation model. They believe that there is a risk of excluding certain actors, which in the long term will be a restriction on the freedom of choice of the jobseeker. Early results are weak, the pilot project shows. (see graphics)
Maria Mindhammar, general director of the Swedish Public Employment Service, is aware of the criticism but does not want to delve into what she herself thinks about the system.
– I can say this. It is the order of politics that must be so based on results and nothing for which we have acted. It is a pity that we have to test and develop a matchmaking service in the middle of a pandemic, we can all understand that it is difficult for many. But the January agreement is formatted to be results-oriented and then we follow through, says Maria Mindhammar.
Friday she has He led the authority for exactly one year. It’s been twelve months that have been anything but a smooth start for a new CEO.
– I suppose it is not something that I can recommend starting a general management in the middle of a virus pandemic. Especially not in an authority that even before was in an exceptionally difficult situation.
The exceptionally difficult situation you are referring to consists of several different parts.
When former CEO Mikael Sjöberg left and Maria Mindhammar took office, the authority, after budget cuts, had started a major downsizing in the branch network. Almost half of the local offices would be eliminated or merged with others.
Great notice was given to the authority and many also resigned at their own request. At the same time, government directives emerged that the authority should strengthen its local presence in the country.
And then the big reform announced in the January agreement earlier that year. What is called the biggest change in the history of the employment service, with a term of only one year.
If the situation was exceptionally difficult when you stepped on, what about the corona pandemic besides this?
– I’m calling it for what it is. It is a crisis situation. We have a very serious situation both in society and in the labor market. My approach has been to work for the task, take care of the unemployed in the best way and get them out of work, because there are actually jobs, says Maria Mindhammar.
At the end of October / November, just over 450,000 people were registered with the Swedish Public Employment Service as openly unemployed.
During the late summer and fall, the attack has slowed down a bit, and in recent months more people have left the Swedish Public Employment Service to work or study than have registered. At some point during the next quarter, it is estimated that it will have reached half a million unemployed (9.6 percent) and then it will start to decline again.
– We had a scenario before that was 10 percent in 2021, so now it looks better anyway, says Maria Mindhammar.
How are the preparations for reform affected by the fact that you are in crisis, as you describe it yourself?
– We are used to being in constant change and with many who have opinions about us. We already heard the Prime Minister a couple of years ago say that the Public Employment Service would be fundamentally reformed, so that is something we live with. We already have independent players today on a system that we have built ourselves and tested for many years.
Do you have a clear idea of what it will be like in 2022?
– I really don’t know much more than others do. But I think the picture has been clear for some time now, Mindhammar says.
His image is that after the reform, the Swedish Public Employment Service will be the lynchpin of labor market policy. You must continue to work with evaluations of labor market policy and analyze the labor market, you must seek, control and monitor independent providers.
It is in the real work of equipping the unemployed for employment and putting them out to work or study that the placement of the Public Employment Service’s hands is significantly reduced.
– That’s what they said. That combination and armor should be in independent actors. Then we will always be there because it will be an equal service for the unemployed throughout the country.
He hopes to get clearer directives regarding the letter from the ministry this spring.
Will it become redundant when the reform is complete and the mission changes?
– We are an authority that must be made more efficient like all the others, there must be a focus on all authorities and not less on this one, says Maria Mindhammar and points out the budget that will be increasingly narrow.
The spring bill announced a significant reduction of around SEK 1 billion, which will now not be implemented. Instead, the Swedish Public Employment Service will receive an additional SEK 300 million for 2021, as a crown measure, and will subsequently start a reduction in subsequent years.
– It is clear that we will have a tight budget. As we already know this, we have to work a lot with a fixed-term job. We won’t be able to hire a lot of people at the moment because we have to stick to the budget, says Maria Mindhammar.
But neither the budget nor the reform will have to lead to major changes in staff, he says.
– They have such an important assignment and assignments will remain. We also have a natural rotation and we are a great authority so we can work on not occupying certain positions again. I’m not worried about the economy.
