|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Monday, 23 August 2004 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Fighting unemployment Swedish-style STOCKHOLM, Sunday (AFP) Stay home from work, laze about or travel, while collecting 70 percent of your salary - an illusion? Not in Sweden, where the government will pay workers to take a guilt-free year off and replace them with long-term unemployed, who will get their foot in the door of the job market. Following the success of regional test programmes in place since 2002, Sweden plans to launch the initiative nationwide next year. Run in concert with the National Labour Market Administration (AMS), the programme is aimed primarily at people at the lower end of the wage scale. "AMS plans to prioritize three particular social groups: the long-term unemployed, the handicapped and immigrants," labour ministry spokeswoman Aasa Gunnarsson told AFP, calling feedback from the test programmes "very positive". In practice, workers who volunteer to take 12 months off work receive 85 percent of what they would normally get in unemployment insurance. With the pre-tax monthly salary ceiling set at 25,000 kronor (2,715 euros, 3,356 dollars), the most a worker can receive while on sabbatical is 9,550 kronor (1,037 euros, 1,282 dollars) a month after tax. Employment offices in small towns have been very favourable towards the project during the test period, though it is unlikely to have the same effect in big cities, where the salary ceiling will make it difficult for many families to make ends meet. The profile of the typical volunteer for the programme is a 47-year-old woman who works in the public sector. Birgitta Wiklund, 45, is one such person. She jumped at the opportunity when it presented itself, and in November 2002 she packed her bags and flew off to sunny Thailand with her 10-year-old daughter for three months. "When I got back I was very rested, but starting work again was difficult. Without the government's help I would never have been able to treat myself to this holiday," Wiklund, who works at a local employment office, told AFP. Volunteers are free to travel, study, take care of their kids, build a new home or even start up a company during their year off - anything they want as long as they are not gainfully employed. On average, 52 percent of unemployed people who fill in for someone on sabbatical are offered a full-time job in the company, according to the Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. The government has allocated 159 million kronor (17.2 million euros, 21.2 million dollars) for a three-year period, which it says will enable it to pay for 12,000 jobs per year. That is however just a drop in the bucket, what with more than 250,000 Swedes currently out of work in a country of nine million. In July, unemployment hit 5.6 percent of the workforce, a figure that would be enviable in most other European countries but which is a nightmare for the Swedish state: the country's generous cradle-to-grave welfare benefits are funded by high income taxes, and fewer workers means less revenues. "What the state loses in funding this programme, the unemployment office makes up for in cheques it doesn't have to pay out. But what is invaluable is the effect on Swedes' health and morale," says Agneta Bostroem, spokeswoman for the Green Party which originally came up with the idea. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
