This chapter outlines the context of the “Strengthening the Governance of the Swedish Skills System” project and describes the aims and the structure of this report.
Strengthening the Governance of the Swedish Skills System
Final Report
Abstract
In Sweden, as in many European Union (EU) and OECD countries, there is a need to reduce skills shortages and mismatches. Sweden is grappling with significant labour and skills shortages, which are particularly pronounced in the sectors of education, healthcare, social work, information and communication technology (ICT), industry, and construction (European Commission, 2020[1]). Northern Sweden in particular, which has experienced decades of demographic decline and depopulation, is now the country’s “epicentre of the green industrial revolution”, with large green investment inflows set to increase the demand for industrial workers (OECD, 2023[2]).
Sweden also has considerable potential to reduce skills mismatches. As shown in Figure 1.1, the share of individuals who are underqualified, overqualified or who have a field-of-study mismatch (i.e. who work in an occupation mostly requiring a field of study different from the one they graduated in) is higher in Sweden than in the EU on average by 4, 1 and 1 percentage points, respectively. In addition, 27% of workers in Sweden think that the introduction of new digital or computer technologies in their company or organisation already necessitates, or will require new knowledge and skills that they currently lack, which is the highest percentage among EU countries (Cedefop, 2022[3]).
Source: Cedefop (2022[3]), European Skills and Jobs Survey 2021, www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/european-skills-jobs-survey/data.
Sweden is actively addressing skills shortages and mismatches through several initiatives. For instance, in October 2022, Sweden introduced the “transition package” following an agreement with social partners. This package includes amendments to labour laws to enhance opportunities for upskilling and reskilling. It provides substantial financial support for training, offering grants and loans for programmes lasting up to 44 weeks, known as “student finance for transition and retraining”. Under this package Sweden has also established a new “public transition organisation”, jointly owned by unions and employers, to assist workers not covered by collective agreements when transitioning between jobs (Government of Sweden, 2022[4]; Global Deal, 2023[5]).
Also, in 2022 the government commissioned an inquiry into how municipal adult education (see more below on this type of education in Sweden) can be made more responsive to labour market and individuals’ needs. Since July 2023 the inquiry has also been tasked with proposing how a new form of vocational education and training (VET) at upper secondary level, modelled along the lines of Swedish higher vocational education (see more below on this type of education in Sweden), could help strengthen the connection between adult education and working life (Government of Sweden, 2023[6]).
Notwithstanding these important reform efforts, better aligning skills supply and demand to reduce skills mismatches and shortages remains a challenging task. The causes of mismatches and shortages are always multiple, with no single actor having all the necessary policy levers at their disposal to address them. Therefore, reducing skills pressures requires co-ordinated action by multiple governmental and non-governmental actors, highlighting the importance of strong skills system governance.
Sweden has recognised that the governance of skills systems is important. In 2019, a government inquiry identified the need to strengthen co‑ordination and collaboration in skills policy. It recommended the creation of a new public agency with overall responsibility for skills policy (Government of Sweden, 2019[7]). However, this proposal did not materialise.
In 2021, the government tasked eight national agencies to work together to develop a coherent data infrastructure for skills supply and lifelong learning. In 2022, building on recommendations of the Strategic Cooperation Programme on Skills Supply and Life-long Learning (Samverkansprogrammet Kompetensförsörjning och livslångt lärande) launched in 2019, the Swedish government tasked seven national agencies, all with some responsibilities for various aspects of skills policy, to collaborate and contribute to a well-functioning skills supply through the Inter-agency Co‑operation Structure for Skills and Lifelong Learning (Myndighetssamverkan för kompetensförsörjning och livslångt lärande, MSV KLL, hereafter “MSV”).
To facilitate the implementation of the MSV, and to build on the progress seen in 2021 and 2022, Sweden sought technical support from the European Commission. The technical support was requested by the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen), in collaboration with the Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education (Myndigheten för Yrkeshögskolan, MYH), the Swedish Higher Education Authority (Universitetskanslersämbetet, UKÄ), the Swedish Council for Higher Education (Universitets- och högskolerådet, UHR), the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket), the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket) and the Council for the European Social Fund in Sweden (Swedish ESF Council, Svenska ESF-rådet). The request was assessed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and selected for funding through the Technical Support Instrument (TSI), resulting in the initiation of this project, delivered in co‑operation with the OECD.
Aim and structure of this report
This report provides an integrated and detailed overview of the key outputs of this project. More specifically, it compiles mapping, analysis, relevant international practices and recommendations developed as part of the project’s previous outputs, namely:
Situation analysis report (Output 3) (OECD, 2023[8]).
Report on relevant international practices in the field of skills governance (Output 4) (OECD, 2024[9]).
Analysis of opportunities for improvement in the skills data infrastructure in Sweden (Output 5) (OECD, 2024[10]).
Recommendations on enhancing the skills governance system in Sweden (Output 6) (OECD, 2024[11]).
In addition, the report describes lessons learned from project implementation and outlines the next steps.
The report is structured as follows. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the Swedish skills system (see definition below), detailing the roles and responsibilities of key actors and outlining relevant governance structures. Chapter 2 also provides an overview of the Swedish skills data infrastructure, describing the roles and responsibilities of key actors, key sources of skills data, and mechanisms to support the dissemination and use of that data.
The subsequent chapters analyse eight key opportunities for improving the governance of Sweden’s skills system, categorised into three priority areas. For each opportunity, recommendations for improvement are provided, drawing upon relevant international practices. The priority areas and their associated opportunities are as follows:
Priority Area 1 (Chapter 3): Promoting co-ordination, co-operation and collaboration across the whole of government:
Opportunity 1: Improving collaboration between national agencies at a strategic level.
Opportunity 2: Improving collaboration between national agencies at an operational level.
Opportunity 3: Improving collaboration between national and sub-national levels of governments.
Priority Area 2 (Chapter 4): Engaging stakeholders throughout the policy cycle
Opportunity 4: Improving engagement with stakeholders at the national level.
Opportunity 5: Improving engagement with stakeholders at the sectoral level.
Priority Area 3 (Chapter 5): Improving the skills data infrastructure
Opportunity 6: Building a more user-orientated skills data infrastructure.
Opportunity 7: Strengthening strategic co-ordination and collaboration across the skills data infrastructure.
Opportunity 8: Improving understanding and co-ordination of Sweden’s engagement with EU‑wide skills data initiatives.
The final section presents lessons learnt from project implementation and the next steps.
The three priority areas and related opportunities for improvement examined in this report constitute the first three building blocks of strong skills governance arrangements, as defined by the OECD (see Figure 1.2). The OECD complemented this analysis by, among others, assessing the foreseen funding needs (building block 4) in the “Roadmap proposal” (Output 7) developed for Swedish authorities as part of this project.
Source: Elaboration on OECD (2019[12]), OECD Skills Strategy 2019: Skills to Shape a Better Future, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264313835-en.
References
[3] Cedefop (2022), European skills and jobs survey 2021, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/european-skills-jobs-survey (accessed on 1 October 2024).
[1] European Commission (2020), Recommendation for a COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION on the 2020 National Reform Programme of Sweden and delivering a Council opinion on the 2020 Convergence Programme of Sweden, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1591720698631&uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0527 (accessed on 30 September 2024).
[5] Global Deal (2023), Upskilling and reskilling for the twin transition: The role of social dialogue, https://www.theglobaldeal.com/resources/Upskilling-and-reskilling-for-the-twin-transition.pdf (accessed on 1 October 2024).
[6] Government of Sweden (2023), Tilläggsdirektiv till Yrkesvuxutredningen (U 2022:05) [Supplementary Directive to the Occupational Development Inquiry (U 2022:05)], https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/kommittedirektiv/2023/07/dir.-2023110 (accessed on 1 October 2024).
[4] Government of Sweden (2022), Omställningsstudiestöd [Transition study support], https://www.regeringen.se/regeringens-politik/trygghet-och-omstallning/ett-nytt-offentligt-studiestod--omstallningsstudiestod/ (accessed on 1 October 2024).
[7] Government of Sweden (2019), Effektivt, tydligt och träffsäkert – det statliga åtagandet för framtidens arbetsmarknad [Effective, clear and accurate – the government’s commitment to the labor market of the future], https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/statens-offentliga-utredningar/2019/01/sou-20193/.
[10] OECD (2024), Output 5: Analysis of opportunities for improvement in the skills data infrastructure in Sweden, Strengthening the Governance of the Swedish Skills System project, OECD, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/programmes/dg-reform/sweden/Analysis-of-opportunities-for-improvement-in-the-skills-data-infrastructure-in-Sweden.pdf.
[11] OECD (2024), Recommendations on enhancing the skills governance system in Sweden, OECD, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/programmes/dg-reform/sweden/Recommendations-on-Enhancing-the-Skills-Governance-System-in-Sweden.pdf.
[9] OECD (2024), Strengthening the Governance of the Swedish Skills: Report on relevant international practices in the field of skills governance, OECD, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/programmes/dg-reform/sweden/Strengthening-the-governance-of-the-Swedish-skills-system-report-on-relevant-international-practices-in-the-field-of-skills-governance.pdf (accessed on 5 July 2024).
[2] OECD (2023), OECD Economic Surveys: Sweden 2023, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ceed5fd4-en.
[8] OECD (2023), Output 3: Situation Analysis Report, Strengthening the Governance of the Swedish Skills System project, OECD, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/programmes/dg-reform/sweden/Strengthening-the-governance-of-the-Swedish-skills-system-situation-analysis-report.pdf.
[12] OECD (2019), OECD Skills Strategy 2019: Skills to Shape a Better Future, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264313835-en.