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In May last year businesses in Sweden’s Södra Småland region wanted to find a way to match the need for local labour and the needs of unemployed youths to find jobs. A survey showed 20 percent of businesses turned down orders due to the lack of labour, while some 20 percent of the region’s youths were unemployed. Working alongside projects TvärdraG and Future Kronoberg they created ‘The apprentice package”, helping unemployed youths find work. The youths are offered a four week introduction and mapping of their skills and needs, before being matched with employers and offered internships and training for one to three months. After that they are offered six months of work with the help of the employment service.

Södra Småland’s businesses are traditionally organised through the local municipalities, but as part of the project ‘How hard can it be?‘ they have organised cross-regionally. They operate as one group within TvärdraG – a regional profiling project where both businesses and public institutions work together to showcase södra Småland and make the region more attractive to job seekers.