Pandemic stresses already pushed Swedish employment service

“The organisation was in the process of being reconstructed as the pandemic hit, and we didn’t yet know the shape of the working groups and what resources we would be given. Then the Coronavirus came and hit a service already in crisis,” says Susanne Petterson-Graff, who works at the Östersund jobcentre (above, left). Åsa Johansson (right) agrees – she heads the department of the Union of Civil Servants representing 6,000 employment service employees. 

“The job cuts were meant to be balanced with digital systems and self-service solutions, but we think the decision-makers overestimated what our customers can deal with. If you are in a personal crisis, you might not be that independent,” she says.