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It’s Friday morning, and 44-year-old Krister Ekberg is sitting with remote control in hand and buttons in front of the TV. The blue walls in the second in Södermalm almost seem to close around him.
He feels more and more trapped, he explains. There, on the couch, he has been sitting since March, inactive.
– Soon my wife will be back home and then we can take our daily walk. That’s the only thing we do these days and of course we play different board games. Without him, I would have felt sad, he says and continues:
– It is my wife who makes me happy, I don’t know what I would have done without her.
The pandemic has made it more difficult for people with disabilities who need support and help finding work, according to the Swedish Participation Agency, MFD.
From March to September, an average of more than 62,000 people with disabilities were registered as unemployed with the Swedish Public Employment Service during the month. That is several thousand more than during the same period last year. 30 percent less has been used, compared to the same period last year. 15 percent fewer have been hired with support.
Almost 40,000 of them have been without work for 12 months and just over 25,000 have been unemployed for two years, in October.
– People with disabilities are a large group of clients of the Swedish Public Employment Service who, from an already vulnerable situation, are greatly affected by the consequences of the crown crisis on the labor market, says Camilla Arvenberg, MFD press officer.
Several employers are unable to offer new jobs due to cuts and the number of long-term unemployed is increasing in Sweden.
Krister Ekberg, 44, was previously registered as unemployed with the Swedish Public Employment Service, but switched to her daily activities after 2016.
Photo: Magnus Hallgren
Krister Ekberg has a cheerful intellectual disability, and she is one of the people who have been registered as unemployed with the Swedish Public Employment Service for several years. In 2016, he was “discharged” from the authority in connection with his back injury, he explains.
Instead, they referred him to daily activities.
– It’s useless, because I had just got a job in a restaurant in Stockholm, which has been a dream for me since I was a chef. And now the Swedish Public Employment Service doesn’t even want to help me find a job anymore, says Krister Ekberg.
Most young adults with intellectual disabilities are counted as one of the groups furthest removed from the job market, according to the president of the FUB union, Harald Strand.
– Only about two percent of people with intellectual disabilities have jobs in the open labor market, most people of working age have daily activities according to LSS where the daily allowance is between 50 and 100 crowns, he says.
Krister Ekberg explains that he For most of the pandemic he has been completely dormant and he has been isolated at home as several businesses have closed due to infection. During the ongoing pandemic, municipalities have had limited opportunities to offer people who have been granted LSS interventions.
– Right now I have nothing to do and many of us are sad about it. Daily activities have been open from time to time, but I also don’t dare to go because it is not contagious. At the same time, I would have liked to have a job in the “real” job market, but the Swedish Public Employment Service apparently has too few SIUS consultants to receive me, I understand that, he says.
According to a new report published by Statistics Sweden, Statistics Sweden, people with different types of disabilities are particularly vulnerable in several areas, such as the job market and the economy, and the situation has worsened with the pandemic.
The “Leave No One Out” report refers to, among other things, a previous Novus survey from Functional Law Sweden showing that 17% of 1,122 respondents stated that their personal finances were adversely affected by the pandemic and 55 % stated that they solve day-to-day finances with the help of savings. .
Lars Andersson, 52, says he has always been active in his life until he injured his shoulders. “Since then, I have been unemployed for about eight years,” he says.
Photo: Private
It’s kind of like Lars Andersson, 52 years old. he recognizes himself. Friday afternoon he finishes his job training for the day. Lars Andersson says he has not had a “real” job since the fall of 2012 and is still registered with the Swedish Public Employment Service as long-term unemployed.
He was born with spina bifida and that is why he is in a wheelchair. He says he has always been active in his life when he played sports and competed in a wheelchair from a very young age.
Since then, he has held several different jobs, including as an employee.
– I also worked in a small factory as an assembler and have been on the team for the transport service. One day my shoulders were worn down and I contracted osteoarthritis and crush injuries to muscle and tendon passageways. I also had wheelchair pressure ulcers that never healed, required an operation. After that, I lived with high infection values, he explains.
Lars Andersson was on sick leave for several years and ended up moving further and further away from the job market. At the same time, it took a long time to research his work capacity.
– Having a fairly good economy, I was forced to live off my partner. In the last few years, not much has happened, it was two years ago that I was finally able to start working part time in an association that focuses on people for functional variations. In total, I receive 4,500 SEK in gross salary.
– It feels hard that I cannot contribute to the house as you would like, he says.
Lars Andersson
Photo: Private
In times of crown it is not clear either whether job training can lead to employment. The association in which he trains is non-profit and has few resources.
– I am very worried about the future, since it does not look so good to us people with functional variations. Fortunately, I succeed with the help of my dear partner.
Samhall, Sweden’s largest employer for people with disabilities, has worked hard to get its employees to work through the pandemic. But even there, it has been observed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find work, explains Samhall communications director Albin Falkmer.
– In general, it can be said that times like these are very challenging, especially for people with disabilities or others who have been further away from the labor market. Arlanda airport, for example, uses our services, but has not had the same need now. So we had to change and, among other things, make a protective visor instead, he says.
Anna Madeleine Ekberg also goes daily, but worries that it will close again, like in April.
Photo: Magnus Hallgren
One of Samhall’s goals is that employees must leave the company for “regular” jobs, says Albin Falkmer. Typically, around 1,500 people leave and recruit each year.
– But this year we will probably only reach a little more than half of that figure, he says.
Samhall describes it as a dire situation.
– There is a risk of putting people in permanent exclusion. There has been a lot of research on this during the crisis of the 1990s, which showed that it was people with disabilities who had to leave first and who had the hardest time returning to the labor market later, says Albin Falkmer.
Krister Ekberg hugs her partner Anna Madeleine Ekberg, who has spent the day in an education along with her daily activities. But both speak of concerns that it will also be closed soon.
– But at least we have to take care of each other, it is worse for those who are alone, says Krister Ekberg.
