The efforts for the unemployed through private actors were much more expensive than those made through the Employment Service. Yet, the people who went there did not get jobs or start studying more often than others, shows a report from the Institute for Labour Market and Education Policy Evaluation (IFAU) released last week.
It shows that ideology must not go too far. The most important thing is that the unemployed get jobs and that we take responsibility for the taxpayers' money, says Mats Persson, Minister for Labour Market and Integration.
The decision to privatize the Employment Service to a higher degree was implemented by the parties in the January Agreement (S, C, L and MP) in 2019.
What is the responsibility of The Liberals for it turning out this way?
It is no secret that it was the Centre Party's most important reform in the January Agreement. But in hindsight, we should have opposed it more than we did.
Jonny Cato, labour market policy spokesperson for the Centre Party, says that The Liberals did not take the political leadership required regarding the reform of the Employment Service.
"Mats Persson must stop blaming unemployment on everyone else. The Liberals have been responsible for labour market policy for over two years and nothing has happened", he says in a written comment.
