Beacons of hope: Sweden

The people of Sweden are the most positive about changes to the labour market, supported by one of the strongest approaches globally to maintaining employment and supporting lifelong learning.

I’m interested to find out more on work highlighted as part of NESTA’s digital frontrunners programme:

• Digital Skills and Jobs coalition brings together agencies to make Sweden the world leader in harnessing opportunities of digital transformation.
• Unique to Sweden is a network of independent job security councils, funded by employers, which are run in partnership between employers and trade unions to ensure smooth transitions from one job to another with 85% of people finding re-employment within a year.
• Regional skills platforms established in 2013–2017 with 40 ongoing projects.
• Projects such as Digicreate in Boras — a business run network and knowledge sharing community for creative and cultural projects in a former textile industrial area.
• A digital speed interview service run by the public employment service to support small and medium enterprises to broaden their recruitment pool by providing a fast, low commitment way to meet and interact with many candidates in a short period of time. During the COVID 19 pandemic, the employment service saw uptake increase by 800% to 400 interviews per month with satisfaction levels around 90%.

What do you think about skills and employment in rural and town communities in Sweden?

What other programmes and places should I include in my research?