Swedish municipalities target youth unemployment

In Sweden the state authorities are responsible for labour market measures, but the municipalities also have a so-called information responsibility. According to the Swedish Education Act, this means the municipalities should at all times make sure they know about young people under 20 who are not working or studying, and they should be able to provide measures. In January 2015 the act will change and the duty to stay informed will be replaced with a responsibility to be active — a change which means the municipalities must establish a database of all under 20s who do not work or study. This task will be financed by the state, but activities will not. 

Some 200 of Sweden’s municipalities are running various labour market measures mainly aimed at young people, but also for other groups who are outside of the labour market. Municipalities spend around four billion Swedish kronor (€438m) on labour market measures and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions says just over 4,500 municipal workers are involved with labour market measures, compared to 12,000 employees at the Swedish Public Employment Service.