Government proposes new regulation on migrant labour

In March 2008, the Swedish government proposed a new regulation for migrant workers from countries outside the European Union and the European Economic Area, and Switzerland. The regulation aims to simplify the process for employers to locate skilled workers and will be implemented by mid December 2008. The social partners have given mixed reactions to the legislative proposal.

Background

Sweden, as many other countries in the EU, faces the demographic challenge of having fewer younger people who will contribute to supporting a significantly larger older population. The country is also experiencing a general labour shortage, in particular of skilled workers. To avoid a potential loss of economic competitiveness, these challenges must be tackled by adopting diverse policy strategies, such as overcoming social exclusion and reducing labour market exclusion of long-term unemployed people, immigrants and young people. Moreover, one way of tackling the demographic challenge is to increase the statutory retirement age from the current age of 65 to 67 years in the future. Meanwhile, facilitating labour force immigration represents one way of solving the problems posed by labour shortage, negative demographic trends and an ageing workforce (SE0801029I).

Provisions of legislative proposal

The most important provisions of the government’s legislative proposal include the following measures:

• the national authorities will no longer make the decision concerning the demand for migrants to work in the country; instead, it will be the individual employer’s decision to hire migrant workers;

• to secure a work permit for migrant workers, employers must offer a job complying with the conditions set out in collective agreements and national labour market regulations. However, before hiring third-country nationals, citizens within the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA), as well as Switzerland, are given priority to apply for any jobs available;

• the initial work permit will be granted for a period of up to two years or for the duration indicated in the employment contract; work permits can be extended several times and obtained in Sweden rather than from abroad, which was previously the case. In total, work permits can be granted for a maximum period of four years. After that period, migrant workers are entitled to receive a permanent residence permit;

• the first work permit will be granted only in connection with a particular employer and specific job. However, after two years, a person who has received a work permit can work for any other employer in Sweden, while continuing to work in the same occupation for which the work permit was initially granted;

• the administration of work and residence permits will be centralised under one authority, namely the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket); previously, this work was the responsibility of the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen).The Migration Board will ensure that employers respect the country’s regulations in terms of working conditions, as well as the priority rules regarding EU and Swiss nationals, in order to avoid ‘social dumping’;

• a work permit can be retrieved if a migrant worker is given notice of termination of the employment contract and does not find a new job within a period of three months;

• a student from outside the EU or Switzerland, who has completed an exchange programme or a semester at a Swedish university, can apply for a work or residence permit in Sweden; nonetheless, the student must apply for either permit before ending the course or programme of study;

• asylum seekers who were refused asylum by the state are allowed to apply for a work and/or residence permit under certain circumstances – if the person has worked for at least six months, is offered permanent work or has been employed for at least one year. This ‘second chance’ application must be completed within two weeks after having been refused asylum.

Reactions of social partners

The labour market expert of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv), Karin Ekenger, is optimistic about the government’s proposal to facilitate labour immigration. She highlights that the new regulation will allow for an increase in the supply of skilled workers, especially in the country’s rural areas where small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) encounter difficulties in finding workers with appropriate qualifications. According to Ms Ekenger, the most important aspect of the new legislation is that the process of matching an employer’s labour requirement directly to the hiring of a migrant worker will become more efficient and easier to comply with.

The President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Sverige, LO), Wanja Lundby-Wedin, agrees that the country’s borders have to be more open to secure the future provision of a qualified labour force. Nevertheless, Ms Lundby-Wedin also perceives the risk that if people only work in Sweden for a short period of time, they will be exposed to poorer working conditions and social dumping. In addition, she believes that the responsibility for dealing with labour demand in the country, as well as labour immigration, lies with the Swedish Public Employment Service and that the focus should be on hiring migrant workers who are already in Sweden.

Thomas Brunk, Oxford Research