Cables are connected, and resistance is measured, when students on the industrial electrician training program have a lesson at Campus Skellefteå, a gathering place for a multitude of educational programs on the edge of the Skellefte River.
For those who have set their sights on a job at the city's largest private employer – battery manufacturer Northvolt – the training is not a bad choice. Along with training programs such as process operators, automation technicians, and process technicians are pointed out by Northvolt as relevant for a job in battery production.
Viktoria Tjärnlund and Saga Berglund are two of the students who are taking the industrial electrician training program. Both got interested in the profession through relatives.
I applied because my boyfriend is an electrician. It seems like a fun job with many challenges, problem-solving, and so on, says Saga Berglund, 24.
Greater competition
They started the training after the summer, just before Northvolt's cold shower – the news that 1,600 people across the country would be laid off, most of them in Skellefteå – but do not regret their choice. They will enter the labor market in two years.
I hope it has sorted itself out by then, that there are jobs, says Viktoria Tjärnlund.
But even if they themselves are not betting on a Northvolt job, they see a risk that they will be affected by the battery manufacturer's crisis.
Those who are laid off will apply for other jobs, and then there is a greater risk that those jobs will be taken, says Saga Berglund.
The layoffs are a topic of conversation in the city. Even if one is not directly affected, one knows others who are.
There are many who are worried, those you know who work there and do not know if they will keep their job or not, says Viktoria Tjärnlund, 26.
Not wasted
Northvolt has long cried out for competence, and complained about the shortage that existed when the factory expanded. Simon Dahlgren, head of adult education at the municipality, says that the municipality has put extra effort into training programs aimed at the manufacturing industry.
We have developed them in very close collaboration with people at Northvolt.
He has understanding for those who have started a training program with their sights set on Northvolt and now may feel some anxiety, but points out that the competence the students receive is broad.
They will be in demand in many parts of Sweden, Europe, and all parts of the world. So it is absolutely not a wasted education, he says.
