View from the Ground
There are a couple of challenges facing the Swedish labour market this year. For instance, after years of decline, the unemployment rate is expected to rise this year due to weak job growth, while GDP growth is set to slow to around 2%. Looking at Sweden’s findings from this year’s Index shows that while the Overall Index Score has decreased this year, Sweden is still amongst the most pressured labour markets of all 34 economies examined. The Talent Mismatch Indicator has risen from 9.9 to the highest possible score at 10.0, this shows that the gap between the skills wanted by businesses and the skills available in the labour market is now at its greatest.
Nora Gunneng, Managing Director, Hays Sweden
Key Skills in Demand
- Process Engineers
- Project Leaders
- Laboratory Engineers
- IT Developers (Java, embedded)
- Testers/Test Leaders
Market Insight
In 2018, Swedish GDP rose by 2.4%, virtually unchanged from its level in the previous two years. The growth was boosted by investment spending and export earnings.
Strong job gains meant the country reached a post-crisis low of 6.2% unemployment rate in the last quarter of 2018. Labour market participation increased to over 73% from already high levels, while productivity growth slowed to a similar pace to that in other advanced economies.
Sweden has approved labour market reforms in recent years, but challenges remain. Aiming to increase employment of the low-skilled and immigrants, the Swedish Government recently increased resources for education and simplified its policies to boost employer participation. However, unemployment rates in these segments remain much higher than for the rest of the working population.
