[ad_1]
Last week, the warning wave surpassed 100,000 people since the crown crisis hit the Swedish job market like a bomb this spring. A large part has yet to be implemented, which means that a continued rise in unemployment can be expected for some time.
But many have already lost their jobs, especially the young. In total, almost 80,000 people between the ages of 18 and 24 had registered as unemployed with the Swedish Public Employment Service between March and August. Now, at the end of September, the figure has exceeded 100,000.
Annika Sundén, Director of Analysis for the Swedish Public Employment Service.
Photo: Thomas Karlsson
This crisis is different in many ways, says Arbetsförmedlingen Research Director Annika Sundén.
– When the pandemic arrived with all the restrictions, it hit directly on hotels and restaurants, staff, commerce and transport. All sectors where young people usually work. This is where the entry-level jobs are, she says.
The initial jobs became the initial jobs. This can be seen in the alert figures that the Swedish Public Employment Service reported week by week since the crisis was a fact. Industries such as the hotel and restaurant industry or commerce, where many have their first position on their CV, occupy a prominent place in the list of sectors where the majority have been affected by layoffs.
– If you look at hotels and restaurants as examples, more than 40 percent have temporary employment there, a predominant part of them are young, says Annika Sundén.
This crisis, unlike the previous ones, is a virus and it is the physical problems that cause it more than the structural problems of the economy.
– It was to a large extent other types of people who became unemployed both during the crisis of the 1990s and during the financial crisis. It was industrial workers and people who established themselves in the labor market, explains Annika Sundén.
What does this mean for the large group? young people who have suddenly dropped off the career ladder and have to start over? Annika Sundén believes that they will have to change, come to terms with the fact that the industry they were in previously may not look like it used to be and that they may need to train for something else, although it was not the plan from the beginning.
– If you are young and have worked in the trade for a few years, for example, you may have to think that this job will not come back, or at least there will be far fewer jobs there. Then it is better to expand your education to something where there is a demand, for example, care and nursing.
Although this crisis is different, there are things that always last. Like the fact that change accelerates in times of crisis. In this case, the digitization of commerce and the notorious death of the store.
– If you have worked at a store cash register, it is not certain that this job will return after the crisis, broadly speaking, concludes Annika Sundén.
– It is very important for young people who are unemployed now to really think about what jobs will be available when the crisis ends.
This is especially true for young people without higher education. They generally find it more difficult to find their way back to the job market.
Young people will need to educate themselves for something different than what they intended from the beginning, believes Annika Sundén.
Photo: Thomas Karlsson
The group that worries Annika Sundén the majority are those who have not finished high school, preferably young men. Those who dropped out of high school during the year or graduated without full grades. It is difficult for them to find work in normal cases, but they find it even more difficult now, when there are more unemployed than usual with higher education and better qualifications than they.
And it is not only now that it is a problem. Gaps in your CV can have consequences for the rest of your working life.
– Research carried out in young people who were affected during the crisis of the 90s shows clear “healing effects” as they say, or scars. Being unemployed at the beginning of your career affects the future, says Annika Sundén.
In the studies to which it refers, researchers have followed young people who have been unemployed in previous crises and have been able to affirm that the rest of their careers have been characterized by more unemployment and lower income than those who did not lose their job in the crisis.
– The longer you are unemployed, the more difficult it will be to return. It affects how employers view you when you have a gap in your CV. He has also aged but has not gained more experience, and it is possible that new people with a more recent education have emerged whom he would prefer to hire, explains Annika Sundén.
During the crisis of the 1990s, there were many highly educated who lost their jobs and had a hard time returning. So far, that group has fared better in this crisis. Of all those newly enrolled between the ages of 18 and 24, just under nine percent have a postsecondary education.
But if the crisis continues, there is also the risk that the group will be swept away, believes Annika Sundén.
– Now you hear how many people choose to study another course at university, take an additional semester or apply for a master’s program if you already have a candidate to use the time in education. But if this is lasting, if the recovery does not begin, then it is clear that it will also be difficult for them, he says.
Read more: Three epidemiologists: this is how the pandemic ends
