The system today is too lenient, allowing people to receive benefits from society for years without making any form of contribution, says Mats Persson (L).
He refers to a number of investigations conducted by the government, which have identified various types of activity requirements that he believes are necessary.
That's why we're tightening the requirements for attending the education programs offered by society, he says.
Risks if the trade chaos worsens
He also emphasizes the importance of the unemployment insurance not "locking people in, but being a temporary retraining insurance".
And that there is a strong driving force to work and that taxes are lowered for those who work, he says.
According to Persson, Donald Trump's government's trade policy creates great uncertainty and negative effects on the Swedish economy.
The trade chaos in the world is holding the Swedish labor market hostage. These are uncertain times, he says.
But he doesn't see any clear effects on the Swedish labor market, already affected by low economic growth, yet.
It's clear that the situation can worsen if the trade chaos escalates and continues, says Mats Persson.
"Strong resilience in the Swedish economy"
He adds that employment has increased during the first quarter of the year – both the number of employed and the employment rate.
And unemployment on a monthly basis has decreased, he says.
Despite much uncertainty in the world, there is a strong resilience in the Swedish economy.
He points out that there are currently 135,000 jobs available, but that Sweden is struggling with structural unemployment, where many are far from the labor market and cannot get the available jobs.
Our ambition is to push back unemployment and reach lower levels than we are today. We cannot be satisfied with not having succeeded in educating people for the available jobs, says Persson.
The Statistics Sweden (SCB) reported earlier in the week an unemployment rate of 8.8 percent in March, up from 8.7 percent the previous month. But the employment rate increased slightly at the same time as unemployment decreased among young people, according to SCB.
According to the Swedish Public Employment Service's method of measurement – which is based on the number of people who have registered as unemployed – the unemployment rate in March was 7.1 percent, slightly lower than in February.
According to the EU's statistics agency Eurostat, Sweden currently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the EU. Labor Market Minister Mats Persson explains this with a "homemaker effect" in other countries – where more homemakers lower labor force participation (and thus unemployment). He thinks that one should instead focus on Sweden placing itself in the top tier in the EU when it comes to the proportion of the population that is employed.
