Employmentweb_low

labour Markets and welfare states: a country perspective
redundancies are very rare. The period of notice (with full pay) is
between 2-6 months depending on years of service. In the 1974
regulations, rules regarding the use of temporary employees were
very strict. However, temporary or substitute employment for a
limited period or for a specific task was made possible. so, in 1982
the rules regarding temporary employment were relaxed by the
social democratic government. Temporary employment was made
possible for a number of circumstances, including seasonal work
and temporary peaks in production. In 2007, all types of temporary
employment were replaced by "general temporary employment"
which can be used "at will" but for no more than 24 months over 5
years for a particular employee. after that, the contract is
automatically made permanent.
along with the other nordic countries, sweden has traditionally had
a strong union movement, and still enjoys a high membership rate in
all occupational groups, albeit lower among the privately employed.
There is a long tradition of collective agreements, instead of legal
regulations, regarding minimum wage, hours of work and the use of
temporary employment, which has contributed to a strong union
influence (Kjellberg, 2003). Between 90 and 95 per cent of all swedish
employees are covered by collective agreements. In 1990, overall
unionisation was 81 per cent compared with 80 per cent in 2002, having
peaked at 85 per cent in 1993. unionisation figures have plummeted,
however, since new rules were introduced in 2007 regarding fees for
unemployment insurance. These were changed in order to finance a
larger part of insurance costs, and fees were raised drastically for
many groups. as a result, many decided to leave unions to avoid paying
membership fees. for some unions, membership figures declined by
as much as 20 per cent in one year. Through its long history of
cooperation between the parties in the labour market, as well as its
well-organised unions, sweden still provides good opportunities for
unions to influence employment policy.
Temporary employment increased from 9.4 per cent in 1990 to
15.4 per cent in 2007. The increase was steepest during the 1990s.
The proportion in temporary employment is larger for women
(18.5%) than for men (12.6%) (statistics sweden, 2007). In sweden,
12 per cent of the resident population is foreign-born. The proportion
in temporary employment is about 5 per cent higher in this group,
both among men and women. Temporary contracts are especially
common among young (age 16-24) working class women (42%
compared to 26% of men in the same situation) (nelander & goding,
2006). since 1980, part-time employment has slowly increased
among men (from 6 to 10%) while it decreased among women (from
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