According to a new report, the retraining study support, launched in 2022 as part of the collective agreement between the government and the labor market parties, does not reach those who need it most. Low-educated individuals, those who risk being laid off due to the new exceptions from the seniority rules and those whose occupations are most at risk of disappearing due to, for example, AI, apply to a lesser extent than others. They also receive rejections more often, write economists Peter Fredriksson and David Seim, co-authors of the report commissioned by the Study Association for Business and Society, SNS.
The Central Study Support Board, CSN, which makes decisions on retraining study support, places particular emphasis on statements from retraining organizations such as the Security Council, something that applicants with high unemployment risk do not attach to the same extent as others.
Furthermore, the applications are processed in the order they are received. Since highly educated individuals tend to apply early, individuals who are most in need of retraining study support are disadvantaged, write the professors.
Moreover, the retraining support subsidizes education that would have taken place anyway. "The willingness to start an education seems to be just as great regardless of whether the applicant's application is approved or not," write the authors of the debate article.
To increase the support's effectiveness, it should be targeted at individuals who are hardest hit by structural changes, for example, by giving priority to applications from individuals who have been notified of termination.
