In recent years, labour market developments have altered the demand for labour. Increasingly, employers are looking for adaptable workers, with more 'transversal' and 'relational' competences. The nature of skills required to be considered efficient in a job has thus evolved. In this situation, there is a growing risk of exclusion among unemployed workers whose profiles do not match the job characteristics needed, while the low-skilled or unskilled workforce is more at risk of unemployment.
This article gives a brief overview of the industrial relations aspects of the topic of unskilled workers and unskilled work in Sweden, as of February 2005. It looks at: national definitions of unskilled workers or work; the number of unskilled workers and workers in unskilled jobs, and the extent of unskilled work; employment and unemployment among unskilled workers; the regulatory framework; trade union organisation among unskilled workers; pay and conditions; recent initiatives to improve the situation of unskilled workers; and the views of trade unions and employers' organisations on the issue and its implications for collective bargaining.
In recent years, labour market developments have altered the demand for labour. Increasingly, employers are looking for adaptable workers, with more 'transversal' and 'relational' competences. The nature of skills required to be considered efficient in a job has thus evolved. In this situation, there is a growing risk of exclusion among unemployed workers whose profiles do not match the job characteristics needed, while the low-skilled or unskilled workforce is more at risk of unemployment.
In this context, in February 2005 the EIRO national centres were asked, in response to a questionnaire, to give a brief overview of the industrial relations aspects of the topic of unskilled workers. The following distinctions are used, where applicable:
(a) an unskilled job is a job which requires, for its proper execution, hardly any formal education and/or training and/or experience;
(b) a worker in an unskilled job is a worker doing such a job, irrespective of their level of qualifications or competences (especially under conditions of high unemployment, a significant share of those occupying unskilled jobs may be 'overeducated' for them, or 'underemployed'); and
(c) an unskilled worker is someone who has only the lowest level of qualifications or education (however defined).
The questionnaire examined: national definitions of unskilled workers or work, including those used or provided in laws, statistics or collective agreements; figures or estimates on the number of unskilled workers and workers in unskilled jobs, and the extent of unskilled work; employment and unemployment among unskilled workers; the regulatory framework, including any specific laws or collective agreements, and trade union organisation among unskilled workers; the pay and conditions of unskilled workers and workers in unskilled jobs, or for unskilled jobs; any recent initiatives to improve the situation of unskilled workers; and the views of trade unions and employers' organisations on the issue and its implications for collective bargaining. The Swedish responses are set out below (along with the questions asked).
Definitions and extent
(a) Please provide a definition of unskilled workers or work (see distinctions above) in your country. Are there any definitions provided in laws, statistics or collective agreements?
It is not generally easy to find clear definitions of 'unskilled workers' in Swedish statistics. In the official national statistics produced by Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrån, SCB), there is no such definition to be found in the labour market surveys (Arbetskraftsundersökningar, AKU) or in the educational statistics. The Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen, LO) produces wage statistics of its own for its members, who are blue-collar workers. However, the low-wage groups in LO, who are most probably less skilled workers, are not defined or referred to as 'unskilled' workers in any context. Likewise, wage statistics from the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) do not contain any information on unskilled workers. Further, there are no specific definitions in labour legislation or in collective agreements (though see below under 'Regulation and conditions'). Official statistics on unemployment do not contain a special category for unskilled workers.
SCB's educational statistics provide information on 'people in the labour force by educational level'- see point (b) below. Workers who have completed compulsory schooling only are the group with the lowest level of education in Sweden, though they may not be comparable with the definition of unskilled workers used in the current questionnaire.
The Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations 1996 (SSYK 96) is a national adaptation of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88) published in 1990 by the International Labour Office. ISCO-88 and SSYK organise occupations in a hierarchical framework. They are based on two main concepts: the kind of work performed - defined as a set of tasks or duties designed to be executed by one person; and skill, defined as skill level - the degree of complexity of constituent tasks and skill specialisation - the field of knowledge required for competent performance of the constituent tasks. Four skill levels are defined at the most aggregated level, within the 'major groups'. Skill level 'number 1' is the lowest level. The use of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED76) categories does not imply that the skills necessary to perform the tasks and duties of a given job can be acquired only through formal education. The skills may be, and often are acquired through informal training and experience. The relevant major group (nr 9) in SSYK is named 'elementary occupations' and has the skill level of 1 (ie a primary education starting at the age of five, six or seven and lasting about five years) according to the ISCO skill-level system.
There is thus no information as to the extent to which the 'elementary occupations' defined in the statistics contain skilled workers with skills obtained from training and experience. The statistics refer only to workers of a certain low educational level, and includes those who are skilled workers by dint of having learnt their skills by practical experience in their respective working fields.
(b) Are there any figures or estimates available on the number of unskilled workers and workers in unskilled jobs, and the extent of unskilled work. How have these figures changed in recent years - have changing skill needs or improvements in education/training systems led to a reduction in the numbers of unskilled jobs, unskilled workers and workers in unskilled jobs? Please break all figures down by gender where possible.
Table 1 below provides data from SCB on the educational level of the labour force in 2002, the latest year for which data are available. About 244,000 workers, or 5.5% of the labour force, had completed less than nine years of compulsory schooling, though it is not known at what age these people left compulsory schooling. A further 526,000, or 11.9%, had completed only nine or 10 years of compulsory schooling.
| Compulsory school, under 9 years | Compulsory school, 9-10 years | Upper secondary education, under 2 years | Upper secondary education, over 2 years | Post-secondary education, under 3 years | Post-secondary education, 3 years or more | Research education | Unspecified | Total labour force |
| 244 | 526 | 1,310 | 899 | 647 | 728 | 39 | 28 | 4,421 |
Source: SCB Statistisk Årsbok 2004.
In terms of occupational classification, in 2001, the latest year for which data are available, there were about 207,000 workers in category 9, 'elementary occupations'- see table 2 below.
| Occupation | No. |
| 911. Market salespeople | 78 |
| 912. Cleaners | 65,644 |
| 913. Kitchen and restaurant assistants | 51,427 |
| 914. 'Doormen', newspaper vendors | 17,855 |
| 915. Garbage workers | 8,785 |
| 919. Varied service workers | 14,875 |
| 921. Agriculture workers | 2,203 |
| 931. Unskilled workers in building sector | 917 |
| 932. Varied factory workers | 42,333 |
| 933. Luggage and goods workers, workers in express deliveries | 11,609 |
| Total | 206,941 |
Source: SCB Occupational Register.
(c) Please provide figures on employment and unemployment rates for unskilled workers, compared with higher-skilled groups. Have unskilled workers/workers in unskilled jobs been particularly affected by industrial and company restructuring? Have new jobs created in recent years been filled by unskilled workers? Please break all figures down by gender where possible.
No data available - see above.
Regulation and conditions
(a) Is there a specific regulatory framework in your country concerning unskilled workers and workers in unskilled jobs (however defined)? Are there specific laws or collective agreements? Are there specific trade union organisations for them, or are they represented in 'normal' union structures. Have there been any changes in these area reflecting the changes referred to in question (b) under 'Definitions and extent' above?
(b) Please provide any figures available for the pay of unskilled workers and workers in unskilled jobs, or for unskilled jobs, and the relationship of this pay with the average or with higher-skilled groups. Do collective agreements contain specific pay grades for unskilled workers, or workers in unskilled jobs? Please break all figures down by gender where possible.
There is no specific legislation for unskilled workers. Pay and most other employment conditions, such as working time, are generally regulated by collective agreements. Swedish collective agreements generally encompass all workers who are members of a trade union. 'Unskilled' workers receive annual leave, parental leave and occupational pension entitlements according to the same rules as other workers covered by the same agreement. In pay agreements, jobs are defined as unskilled if previous training is not required and introductory training is provided at the workplace (incidentally, Swedish collective agreements are written and formulated in 'gender-neutral' terms). The situation of 'unskilled workers' is not regulated on the whole in collective agreements. However, there are often clauses setting minimum wages for very young (aged 16 to 18 years) slightly lower than minimum wages for skilled workers of the same age. Furthermore, there may be a lower minimum wage for workers under 20 years of age - eg in the hotel and restaurant sector provides that minimum wages for unskilled workers aged 18 and 19 must be at least 85% and 95% respectively of the minimum wage for older unskilled workers.
'Unskilled workers' as a group are not represented by specific trade union organisations. If they are trade union members, they are members of the LO-affiliated blue-collar trade union in the relevant sector.
There are no specific wage statistics for unskilled workers. LO produces yearly wage statistics covering all its members, including the lowest-paid groups. The members of the Municipal Workers’ Union (Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet, Kommunal) are the lowest-paid group. These are mostly female workers in the healthcare sectors employed by municipalities and city councils, and their average monthly wage was SEK 16,100 (municipal workers) and SEK 16,900 (city council workers) in 2003 - to compare, the highest-paid group within LO is the (mostly male) workers in the building sector, with a monthly average wage of SEK 21,900 in 2003.
The three largest 'elementary' occupational groups - see table 2 above - are cleaners, kitchen and restaurant helpers and workers in various factories. Cleaners belong to trade unions organising in the private or the public sector, such as the Union for Service and Communication (Facket för Service och Kommunikation, SEKO) in the central government sector, Kommunal in the municipal sector and the Swedish Building Maintenance Workers’ Union (Fastighetsanställdas förbund, Fastighets) in the private sector. The LO-affiliated Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union (Hotell och Restaurang Facket) organises kitchen/restaurant helpers, and the average monthly wage of its members was SEK 16,100 in 2003. 'Workers in various factories' are members of a number of trade unions organising in private sector industry.
In a redundancy situation, when the employer cannot redeploy a worker because he or she lacks 'adequate skills' (tillräckliga kvalifikationer) for any other job in the company, the rules in the 1982 Employment Protection Act generally allow the employer to make the worker redundant. Unskilled as well as skilled workers who become redundant/unemployed because of excessive technical demands on their skills made by the introduction of new technologies are, on principle, provided with various support measures under the terms of the 'adjustment agreements' in their sector (SE0403101N) and by the labour market authorities.
(c) Are there any differences between unskilled workers/workers in unskilled jobs and higher-skilled groups in terms of access to other benefits, social security, pensions, etc? Please break all figures down by gender where possible.
Lower-paid workers have the same rights and access to pensions, unemployment insurance, social insurance and other benefits as their higher-paid counterparts. Contributions are paid in proportion to what the workers earn. Union members also pay contributions to union-administered unemployment insurance funds according to their wage level. A low-paid worker receives a lower unemployment benefit than a higher-paid worker.
Actions and views
(a) Please describe any recent initiatives taken jointly or separately by companies, public authorities (national or local) or the social partners (eg collective agreements) to address the situation and improve the situation of unskilled workers in terms of pay, working conditions, training, employability, unemployment etc.
(b) Please summarise the views of trade unions and employers’ organisations on the issue and its implications for collective bargaining.
Swedish trade union and employers' confederations take a great interest in education and skill development issues for employees (SE0406103S). The social partners draw up policies and discuss the need for developing the skills of workers and the trade unions (eg Kommunal) have currently been reminding the employers to meet their responsibilities in this area. For example, Kommunal cooperates with bodies such as the government in order to find different models of skill development for its members. Another example is that the Fastighets trade union has, together with the Almega Service Associations (Almega Tjänsteförbunden) employers' organisation, drawn up a policy document on vocational training and skill development in the cleaning sector. The Hotel and Restaurang Facket union is also positive to skill development but itself, like most trade unions, offers mainly trade union education.
Staff training in different forms is commonly carried out by companies and authorities in Sweden. Also, education is offered through the ordinary school system (KomVux) for immigrant people, unemployed workers in all categories and adults without a 'normal' (12-year) education. 'Folk high schools' and voluntary associations for adult education offer education, sometimes as part of labour market measures through the state authorities. Labour market measures may also include activities for stimulating employed workers to change their occupation.
Efforts are being made to meet the need for skilled workers in healthcare and in the schools system, which is expected to become even greater over 2005-10. The government has, for example set aside SEK 3 billion over 2005-7 for education for pre-school teachers in the municipal sector.
Comments
Overall, it is hard to draw up a specific picture of the situation of unskilled workers (other than that they most often belong to low-wage occupations) in Sweden. However, the state education system is generally thought to be generous, offering all categories of working people various possibilities of education and further education, free of charge. The trade unions have an important role of lobbying and opinion-making vis-à-vis the government and other parties in order to ensure that all their members are considered when it comes to various forms of skill development. The current governmental effort to raise the skill level in the municipal sector shows an intention to improve the conditions among the low-paid female workers working in pre-schools, at the same time as new workers are, hopefully, attracted to future employment in the sector. (Annika Berg, Arbetslivsinstitutet)
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2005), Thematic feature - unskilled workers, article.
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