The proposals are included in the Social Democrats' so-called shadow budget for 2026, which will be presented in its entirety on Monday.
We also want to reduce taxes for ordinary people, but not for high-income earners, says S leader Magdalena Andersson at a press conference.
An ordinary family with children will get almost 5,000 kronor more per year with our policy compared to the government's, she adds.
LO welcomes abolished qualifying day
Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson (M) writes in a comment to TT that the S proposals would cause "great harm to the Swedish economy, reduce growth and increase sick leave numbers".
"The Social Democrats are now returning to the damaging policy they previously pursued where people were hidden and forgotten in various benefit systems and exclusion grew", she writes.
The increase in child and study allowances by 200 kronor per month would, according to the S, cost 5.5 billion kronor during 2026. The increase in housing allowance – to the same level as applied with the abolished supplementary allowance – is estimated to cost 664 million kronor.
LO's chairman Johan Lindholm is also participating in the press conference. He welcomes the abolished qualifying day, which the S wants to implement from July 2026 in combination with a high-cost protection for small businesses.
This is, of course, really good policy, we think, for all of Sweden's workers, he says.
Svenskt Näringsliv critical
Lindholm describes the qualifying day as a class issue, as workers, unlike many salaried employees, normally cannot work from home when sick.
He gets not unexpectedly counter-arguments from Svenskt Näringsliv, which describes the qualifying day as "the deductible in sickness insurance":
"We know from previous experiences that abolished qualifying day deductions increase sickness numbers dramatically and lead to significantly increased costs for companies. The price of such a reform is lower growth and worse welfare for all", says Sven-Olov Daunfeldt, chief economist at Svenskt Näringsliv in an e-mailed comment to TT.
