00:08
Unlike many of its European neighbours, Sweden is enjoying a period of relative prosperity.
The foundation stone for its present success was laid in the late thirties.
A historic agreement between employers associations and trade unions founded a new economic model: the so-called "Third Way" - a middle way between capitalism and socialism.
The key concepts of the new era? Negotiation, consensus and transparency.
00:48
Joakim Palme, social researcher (ENGLISH)
We have a very long tradition of making information available to the public - this is not a new phenomenon. This so-called "principle of public access" means that all decisions, the decision-making processes and all documents are made transparent and disclosed - and, of course, this principle has had a big impact on how the democratic system works for us.
01:16
01:20
The main areas of reform in Sweden have been family politics, care of the elderly, pensions, the health care system and immigration policies. There is a culture of lively debate over these issues.
Can the rest of Europe learn anything from their example?
01:45
Gällivare in Lapland lies about 1,200 kilometres north of the capital. Since the seventies Sweden has operated an active equal opportunities policy that has had a big impact here.
02:02
OT Stefan Fölster, Swedish Economic Association (German)
One area in which Sweden has been successful is their family policy. Many Swedish women work and that's partly because parental leave is fairly generous. Most Swedes are now starting in kindergarten when they are a year old. It works well and there are good results because the kindergarten teachers are of a good quality. This is an area of welfare that was not reduced during the economic crisis. It is very popular and there are good economic effects.
02:39
The region is especially known for its mining. "Aitik" is one of the largest copper mines in Europe.
The company that owns the mine, "Boliden", is the biggest private employer in the area, with around 600 employees. The operation runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
03:10
Erica Forsman is 43 years old and has been working as a truck driver in "Aitik” for more than 4 years. She is the mother of three young children and she is divorced.
03:24
OT Erica Forsman, truck driver
I worked in the tourism industry for a long time. But then it became a bit tedious for me and I applied for an internship here. At first it was just a summer job, but I've felt comfortable from the beginning and the work was fun. Then they gave me the opportunity to retrain to work here permanently. It is exciting because it is something else entirely and the earnings are really good. Moreover - and this is important for me as a mother of three children - a job like this also provides a secure future.
04:00
The continuous expansion of the copper mine means it will still remain active until 2030. The idea to recruit more women in the Swedish company was not the fulfilment of a regulation dictated by politicians. The decision was made for purely economic reasons and was implemented years ago.
04:22
OT Henrik Östberg, personnel manager (ENGLISH)
It was a decision made about 10 years ago, because more staff were needed. And of course, the number of female workers was very low, as in most mining operations. So we decided to actively recruit women. Now, 30% of staff in "Aitik" are women - that is about twice as many as in the whole "Boliden" group.
04:48
The working atmosphere in "Aitik" is a supportive one. There have been no cases of unequal treatment up to now. The same rules apply to both men and women.
05:00
Erica Forsman, truck driver
Both women and men here drive trucks, work on the loading stations and sit in the excavator - all doing the same work. And it works very well. Sure, there is a different tone than in the tourism industry where I worked before, but I do not find that negative.
05:23
The full integration of women into the labour market is a matter of course in Sweden today. With nearly 77% of women being gainfully employed, it is significantly above the European average. Equal pay for equal work is a legal requirement and is put into practice.
05:45
Henrik Östberg, personnel manager
Well looking at a typical female truck driver in Aitik, she earns exactly the same money as her male colleague.
05:54
The decisive factor that allows women to work full time is the well-developed public childcare system. The state spends two thirds of its family budget on the expansion and maintenance of day care centres and schools. Only about a third of the money goes directly to parents. Private allowances for childcare are strictly graded according to income, number of children and duration of care.
06:22
Erica Forsman, truck driver
Well, clearly, one is dependent on the kindergartens and afternoon care - after school. It is essential to be able to work full time. I, for example, have no network around me; I have no parents living in the vicinity and no relatives who could help me if I needed it. To know that my children are in good hands is obviously very important to me.
06:54
This focus on women not only gives the Swedes more options, it also helps to boost state revenue.
07:02
Joakim Palme, social researcher (ENGLISH)
We have changed the tax system. So we have separated taxation of second and first earner. Which means that the salary of the secondary earner is taxed much lower than it used to be before the 1970s. It is also attached to the fact that we have heavy subsidies for the childcare system. It makes it possible for both high-income women as well as for women with smaller incomes to combine work and care responsibilities. As a result, women have become more integral to the labour market and as taxpayers. They are of course contributing to the tax base.
07:51
Social expenditures are almost entirely funded from direct taxation.
In the years of the welfare state the Swedes could afford comprehensive social care. Yet over a 20 year period it doubled the state expenses. Debt also rose. By the early 90s, Sweden was in deep crisis. The government pulled on the emergency brake. The social sector was reformed massively.
The policy received much criticism at the time, but ultimately the population have supported the change.
08:24
Stefan Fölster, Swedish Economic Association
I think the experience was important, despite the crisis in the early 90s. Many Swedes then understood that it is good if the state is not heavily indebted, but saves money. But to do that you have to be cost-conscious in health care and in all other areas. And you have to be aware that when you spend more in one area, then you have to save even more in another area.
08:55
Elderly care in Sweden is the responsibility of the state. Since the 1950s there has been no obligation for children to pay maintenance for their parents.
09:08
In the wake of the welfare reform in the 90s the expansion of the expensive nursing home system was cancelled and changed to a less expensive home care system. Nursing homes are only available for people who need 24 hour care. Instead, Annalisa Karlander gets a half hour visit from a supervisor three times a day.
09:39
Critics see a flaw here, arguing the result is a nation of elderly people living in extreme isolation. Yet many people are glad to be able to grow old at home.
09:52
Karlander Annalisa, 94 years
They asked me whether I want to be in a home. No, as long as I can, I want to stay in my apartment. I'm still clear in my head, so I can do it. But I am limited physically. Cleaning, for example, I can’t do. The support is very good, but I do feel alone sometimes.
10:13
Every elderly person in Sweden today has the right to home care and has to pay only a small fraction of the cost out of his or her own pocket. In order to make care at home cost-effective - without sacrificing quality – Sweden approved private competition for government service providers during the course of the 90s reforms.
10:37
Private care providers - such as "Carema" - operate under the same requirements as those under public and government control.
Patients don’t notice any difference. Difficulties in finding support staff also don’t exist:
10:52
Camilla Wiberg, Group leader, Carema
We have found no problems as workers. Just recently we advertised, because we were looking for carers for the evening shift. We received 100 applications. In Sweden, many people want to work in nursing.
11:18
Petra Ericsson, nursing supervisor
I like this job very much; I've always felt comfortable in the company of older people. I used to work in a nursing home - I am a trained nurse. The profession has a bad reputation with us? No, I could not make that claim. One can hear so many interesting life stories from the elderly.
11:36
In addition to the massive cuts in social spending, during the drastic austerity measures of the 90s pensions were reformed.
The Swedes recognized that two factors made the existing system cost-prohibitive: first the baby boom generation are approaching retirement age in a large number. Also, people are living longer. Earlier than many other European countries, Sweden reacted and in 1999 converted its pension system:
12:08
Mats Thorslund, senior researcher (ENGLISH)
We used to have a fixed pension, which regardless of the economic situation of the country was guaranteed. The pensions were adjusted by the respective course of inflation. But ultimately, everyone knew in advance how high his pension is that he or she will receive for the rest of life – regardless of how long he or she would live. It is obvious that this pension system can’t survive with the current demographic development - as in other countries. Now we have a new pension system - the pensioners of tomorrow will get only as much as the taxpayers at that time are able to pay.
13:03
In 2003, Sweden impeded access to early retirement and increased the statutory retirement age from 65 to 67. In the fight against unemployment, workers were not sent into early retirement, but instead compulsory education was extended.
Still, many experts believe that in the future the Swedes will need to think about an additional private pension provision. Working through retirement age is becoming increasingly popular.
13:44
In Lund in southern Sweden there is a job agency for senior citizens. Carola Jungeby recognizes in the elderly a large potential for the future:
13:57
Carola Jungeby, agency owner
We promote the idea that someone aged 65 or 67 years retires, takes a few free years in their own home to really get into shape and to recover, then they can consider whether they want to continue working. Most find the idea fantastic. Yesterday, for example, a pensioner picked up his new "service plan" and said "this job is the best thing that has happened to me since I've retired."
14:30
The majority of the positions on offer here are part-time jobs or jobs that can be done by the hour. Most of Carola's clients don’t register because they need the money urgently, but rather because they want to be more productive.
Ulla Hulting is 68 and a retired nurse. With the flexibility to have a part-time job, she can work and still care for her grandchildren.
15:03
Ulla Hulting, pensioner with a part-time job
No, the money does not matter - it is more likely to be seen as a bonus. The most important thing for me is to continue being actively involved in life - and work is indeed a fact of life. And I have the opportunity to do something I've never done before.
15:26
The incentive for companies to employ pensioners is the lower social security contributions. For a 66-year-old a company has to pay only half the costs.
A change in thinking seems to be in motion:
15:41
Mats Thorslund, senior researcher (ENGLISH)
I think people have realized that it simply is not fair that you get paid to play golf for 20 years, especially if one is completely healthy. And if the argument is, "I've worked my whole life paying taxes and so I've paid my pension”, - old men especially say this - then I ask them: "how old are you?”. The answer is “84”. They don’t pay their pension any more. They broke even 5-7 years ago. Others are now paying their pension – face it!
16:19
After the radical reforms of the '90s, the social system in Sweden today works just as well as before, but overall is cheaper. And because after this decade of saving the state budget is balanced again, the Swedish didn’t feel the financial and economic crisis of 2008 as much as other nations. It can cut taxes and boost the economy with it.
In 2010, while many other European countries were still struggling with the consequences of the crisis, Sweden recorded the highest economic growth for more than 30 years.
16:56
Joakim Palme, social researcher (ENGLISH)
The fact that we had a deep crisis with the public finances in the early 90s meant the balance of the public finances were not only restored but placed on a very solid ground with a strong control mechanism on public spending and the number of taxes and contributions being raised in order to match the expenditure levels.
17:30
In the wake of the great crisis in the 90s, Sweden has also reformed its health system. The overriding principle was to keep the quality of primary care. A central administration created more efficiency and lower costs. Treatments that were not medically necessary had to be paid for from now on by the patient or private insurance.
17:54
Martina Tinzl has worked for five years at the urological clinic in Malmö. She has seen no evidence that the austerity measures have left the patients dissatisfied. The health care is well organized and run outside of the hospital sector:
18:15
Martina Tinzl, urologist
They have created conditions in Sweden, and also in the hospitals, encouraging the idea that the patient moves from hospital to a secure home care situation. That is, I believe, already a step forward. It is also making things cheaper, which is very difficult. What I can envisage, as a doctor, is that one could send patients to "intermediate spaces", nursing places, where they don’t use the so-called "high standards" needed at a central hospital, but still the basic care and basic needs of the patient are met. That way they could certainly save money, I believe.
18:57
The large savings in the health sector have brought - as with home nursing care - the opening of the market to private providers. In order to maintain standards, all are accountable to the same quality criteria, which is monitored centrally. It allows the state to save whilst developing cheaper alternatives. But staying in a privately run hospital is not any more expensive than a public facility. There is no two-tier health service in Sweden.
19:29
Stefan Fölster, Swedish Economic Association
The patient notices the privatization only in the sense that there are more alternatives – if one isn’t satisfied with a doctor, they can change. For the taxpayer it hasn’t meant so much, but it has brought something more effective. The state may sometimes provide a cheaper alternative than the private competition. But the main effect has been that there are more and different alternatives, and the quality and waiting times have improved.
20:16
Sweden spends more than any other country in Europe on medical research and development. The ability to combine her work as a doctor with research is the main reason Martina Tinzl has stayed at the clinic in Malmö.
The idea of innovation is typically Scandinavian, and it can still be felt here, despite all the austerity measures Sweden has faced.
20:45
Martina Tinzl, urologist
The communication between the physicians and the discipline is excellent here in Sweden. I also believe that the transfer of patient data works excellently. Prescriptions are all becoming electronic, which is especially convenient for older patients who have to travel long distances to the central hospital. These go very simply by phone and then you send electronically a prescription to any preferred pharmacy, and the patients can get it from there.
21:14
Sweden has a long tradition as a country that welcomes immigration. The 60s were a decade of a great wave of immigration, with an annual influx of 30-60,000 workers. For 20 years there prevailed among the Social Democrats a very welcoming immigration policy.
But with the two large waves of refugees from Iraq and the Balkan wars, the Swedish policy changed radically. Sweden has made its borders more and more impenetrable.
Today the Swedish policy - far more than in the rest of Europe – tries to see integration as an obligation of the immigrant, and their citizenship as a debt to society.
21:59
OT Stefan Fölster, Swedish Economic Association
It turns out that foreigners who come to Sweden are integrated much faster and more often find work in communities where there is a better environment for entrepreneurs and growth. Because they can easily start new companies, and also often find employment. Malmö is a city that has not been so successful with this. It has a long social democratic tradition, where they haven’t cared enough about the economy. It was thought that integration could be created just through social policies.
22:42
The number one problem spot is Rosengård – a district of Malmö, which at 65% has the highest proportion of foreigners in Sweden. The unemployment rate is over 40%.
22:58
The "Sydsvenskan", the largest daily newspaper in southern Sweden, has repeatedly reported on violence and crime in this neighbourhood. Per Ek's political development has been observed for years. The far-right party of "Sweden Democrats" has already been in politics here in the South for 12 years:
23:18
Per Ek, "Sydsvenskan" (ENGLISH)
What is happening is that the debates are becoming more aggressive. They are addressing problems in a way that, with words that the political society didn’t do before. So in that way it has changed. The debate has got in some sense harder; more of a blame game towards the immigrants than before. But I think it is going up and down depending on what happens elsewhere in society.
23:49
"Yalla Trappan" was founded as an EU-funded organization and today is a social enterprise. Foreign women who usually have little or no education can make their first step into the labour market here. The influx of women is enormous. The organisation’s success is down to its founder, Christina Merker-Siesjo.
24.13
Christina Merker-Siesjö, founder of "Yalla Trappan"
We employ the women under a collective contract. Everyone gets a regular salary, pays their Social Security and all other charges – such as pension contributions and taxes. Unfortunately, we have more women than work - which is why we also do employment training so that they may also apply elsewhere.
24.32
To have constant work for the women, longer-term contracts from big companies are searched for. For Ikea, for example, the women from Yalla Trappan sew headscarves, which are needed for the uniforms of Muslim employees.
24.48
Since May 2010 they have had a catering service and a restaurant. For just a little more than five euros you can eat lunch here. The offer of cheap and exotic food attracts more and more Swedes to Rosengård. And there are plans to expand the concept of "women in the labour market” even further.
25.06
Christina Merker-Siesjö, founder of "Yalla Trappan"
We have contact with nearly 500 young girls from the neighbourhood. They all want to do something, to get a chance. The new project is called "Yalla-job" and is an offensive to make these young women fit for the labour market.
25.30
Through increased police presence and tougher measures, the state has gained control of the problems with criminal gangs in Rosengård in recent years. The focus is now on creating additional jobs. Although many foreign youths are without jobs here, the high youth unemployment is still not a specific problem for foreigners, but a Swedish problem in general, which is related to problems in the education system.
25.56
Stefan Fölster, Swedish Economic Association
There is no apprenticeship system, although that is now being introduced slowly at least. The schools have quite a few students, nearly a quarter, leaving without any qualifications. What is more, the low-wages in Sweden are incredibly high, almost as high as the average wages. And so, of course, many employers have not taken on adolescents, because they must first gain a few more years experience before they can be really productive. And then Sweden still has one more protection against unlawful dismissal, which doesn’t help the young people exactly, but does make the employer cautious when hiring.
26.44
The fight against youth unemployment, the rebuilding of the school system and the attempt to solve the immigration problem constructively, will all be future challenges for Sweden.
But in comparison to many other countries, on the whole Sweden has a lot of confidence in its policies. Reductions in state benefits have been designed so cleverly that the Swedes are still satisfied. And whilst most European countries groan under the debt crisis, Sweden is becoming an increasingly competitive economy.
CUT
27.17
Joakim Palme, social researcher (ENGLISH)
If we look at the future it is essential to make sure that we can sustain the tax base, so we have something to learn from the Austrian system of getting young people on to the job market. And you have something to learn from us in keeping people on the labour market and providing the kind of….
OPEN
At end: 27.57