International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Improving Access to Labour market Information for migrants and employers
178
3.3. Matching migrants’ skills and employer needs
According to the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (2012) there are shortcomings
in the labour market when it comes to matching. This is manifested by the fact that
one in five recruitment efforts enacted by companies fails. Close to 4 in 10 companies
are forced to postpone planned expansion because of recruitment difficulties. The
single biggest reason for corporate recruitment difficulties is a lack of people with the
right experience. Both companies that have tried to recruit low-skilled workers and
employees with higher education want applicants to have several years of professional
or work experience. Good and relevant education is important but proper professional
or work experience is more important for companies’ skills provision. This bears
witness to the importance of providing individuals with access to the labour market
for them to gain experience.
The Employment Service has the overall responsibility of matching employers who
need labour with people who are looking for work. The main way they connect
employers and employees is through Platsbanken, a vacancy database, which has
1.5 million unique visitors every month. Employers can also search among about
140,000 CVs from job-seekers. The relevance of the Employment Service when it
comes to matching has weakened over the years; fewer and fewer available jobs are
advertised in Platsbanken. Over the last couple of years about 30 per cent of the
job vacancies were reported to the Employment Service. The most common way to
recruit is through informal contacts (78%). Companies are looking for individuals
through employee networks, among customers, suppliers or competitors. Spontaneous
applications, where the applicants themselves contact the employer, are also used to a
great extent (59%). Today, fewer than half (48%) of the companies that try to recruit
are using the Employment Service, despite the fact that the Employment Service
resources are free of charge for the employer. About one third of the employees are
using private services, such as private employment agencies, recruitment consultants
and staffing agencies. Only seven per cent are recruiting abroad (Confederation of
Swedish Enterprise, 2012a).
Between 1976 and 2007 there was a law (1976:157) on the obligation of the
employer to report job vacancies to the Employment Service. The rules were
introduced to improve the matching between job-seekers and job vacancies.
To have all vacancies gathered in one place was intended to make it easier for
job-seekers. In 2007, the obligation ended. The main reason was that it was one
part of the Government’s plans to simplify rules and reduce administrative costs
for businesses (Bill 2006/07:89). The Government also noted that employers today
have several alternative channels to search for workers and since many contacts
between employers and job-seekers are created through other channels, the
employers should no longer be under any obligation to notify vacancies to the
Employment Service. Many consultation bodies were against the proposal and
argued that the obligation makes it easier for the individual to gain an overview
of job vacancies, especially for those who are new to the labour market, such as
immigrants and new graduates.