Report debunks myths about youth unemployment

New report |  Myths about youth unemployment abound, including the one that it isn’t caused by the law on security of employment (LAS). A new report blows holes in the myths.

Malin Sahlén, economist at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and one of the report?s authors.

Misunderstandings and myths about youth unemployment and its causes have to be erased say the authors of a new report - “Priority Rules and Youth Unemployment”.

What is the report’s most important discovery?
– Most important was to show that unemployment among youth really is high, despite attempts by government and unions to obscure it. Some say the figures are exaggerated because students looking for jobs are counted among the unemployed, but then some groups are not taken up, like young people who have stopped looking and are therefore not counted — no one talks about that. Youth unemployment is high and rising fast, we have to deal with that, says Malin Sahlén, economist at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and one of the report’s authors.

But isn’t it true that flexibility in the regulations allows a departure from the last-in-first-out rule?
– The security of employment law is semi-discretionary, exceptions can be made through agreements between unions and employers. But this doesn’t help the young, not even half of young job-hunters are union members and why should the unions bother about non-members? Anyway, it’s backwards reasoning to defend a law because it has exceptions.

What about the claim that only temporary youth staff is being let go?
– It’s just not so. In the last year, 22 000 jobs for young people have disappeared and half of them were full-time. And a young person on a full-time job runs four times the risk of retrenchment than someone older. This scenario does not apply to limited-time jobs. The difference between young and older workmates is their possibility of keeping a full-time job.

Why is the LAS law a problem for youth?
– Because it hurts their chances of establishing themselves on the labour market. It makes it harder to get a job and easier to lose it. The government acknowledges this but still thinks it’s not wrong.

Henrik Svidén