In good working conditions we work better. We are more creative, feel greater satisfaction and are less easily supported. Almost one in three employees experienced work-related illness in Sweden in 2021.
Workplace culture in Sweden need to change. Here, the union can play an important role. Like the daily conversation in the workplace. The employees must dare to have opinions on the business without risk for a worse wage trend or negative differential treatment. A constructive way to improve the working climate is to point out what could be improved and how it could be done.
Work promotes health and prosperity and prevents many opportunities for sin
When it comes to people with mental health problems, those living in relative poverty or dependent on the welfare system, work is often presented as a miracle solution. Swedish ideology worships Work with a capital letter and sees it as an obvious path to health and independence. But the reality is more complex.
The dark sides of work and increasing stress
Many jobs today are more dangerous for mental health than unemployment. Stressful and insecure jobs with poor pay, high demands and little opportunity to influence the content of the work are common and create both ill health and insecurity. Bengt Starrin has shown that such working conditions are harmful, not only for the individual but also for society. Low-paying part-time jobs often do not cover even basic living expenses. In addition, expenses for work clothes, travel and union fees are added, which means that it is sometimes more expensive to work than to be unemployed.
Deteriorations since 2006
When Fredrik Reinfeldt took office in 2006, a systematic dismantling of health insurance and unemployment insurance began. Many were left uninsured and forced into economic and social exclusion. Despite this, unemployment has not disappeared. In 2024, it will be around 8,5%, and long-term unemployment is high. If you want full employment, you need investments in the public sector, something we saw during the welfare years 1930-1973 when Sweden had low unemployment and high productivity.
Income distribution
The median salary in Sweden was SEK 35 per month in 600.
Under SEK 20 per month: According to Statistics Norway's statistics for 2021, approximately 10 percent of the population had a combined earned income of less than SEK 200 per year, which corresponds to approximately SEK 000 per month. The statistics database
Over SEK 50 per month: People in the top decile (top 10 percent) had an annual income of at least around SEK 600, which corresponds to SEK 000 per month.
Over SEK 100 per month: People in the top percentile (top 1 percent) had an annual income of at least SEK 1, which corresponds to just over SEK 215 per month.
People with low financial standards:
Low economic standard is defined as an income below 60 percent of the national median income. According to Statistics Norway's statistics for 2021, approximately 14 percent of the population lived with a low economic standard.
Please note that revenue statistics may vary depending on sources and collection methods. For the most up-to-date and detailed information, it is recommended to consult Statistics Norway's official statistics.
Long-term sick leave – a historical necessity
Even during the welfare years, long-term sick leave was a necessary part of the system, especially for those worn out by hard work in industry or care. The high productivity demands meant that some were permanently eliminated, but society was there to support them.
From tramps to today's vulnerable
In the 1800th century, before social insurance, the dispossessed often became vagrants. These people, who lacked both home and livelihood, wandered around the country offering their labor in exchange for food and lodging. The tramps' conditions were harsh – they lived on the outermost margins of society, without security or the opportunity to influence their situation. Today's equivalent is those who fall through the cracks in our welfare system and do not receive sick leave or compensation, despite the fact that working life has crushed them.
Rich get richer, poor get poorer
At the same time, the politics of recent years have created more dollar millionaires than ever before in Sweden. By 2023, Sweden had 575 dollar millionaires, a consequence of tax cuts for high earners and cuts for ordinary people. This development has contributed to increasing economic inequality and a harsher social climate.
The alliance went to the polls that Sweden could not afford an exclusion of a few hundred thousand. But Sweden had 2022 billionaires in 542. During the pandemic, the number increased by 336. 81 of its billionaires are dollar billionaires and together own 49% of Sweden's GDP. (Aftonbladet)
Work as a compulsion, not a right
Today, the unemployed are forced through CV courses, job coaching and a host of activities that often feel more symbolic than effective. This is reminiscent of the 1800th century poor welfare policy, where the "worthy" poor were separated from the "unworthy". Instead of helping people get a job with good conditions, the right to work has become a compulsion in a society where the security systems are about to be eroded.
Why such long working weeks and high retirement age?
The labor movement historically fought for shorter working hours, longer vacations and the right to a pension. But in today's neoliberal Sweden, these questions are difficult to discuss. Instead of improving the conditions for those who work and expanding the security systems, we create an increasingly vulnerable group of people who do not get a share of society's resources.
A new direction is needed
To create a sustainable society, a policy is required that prioritizes people's health and dignity over the pursuit of short-term economic efficiency. We need an expanded public sector, fair working conditions and safe health insurance and social security that people can live on. Only then can we create a society where everyone has a place and where no one is forced to become a vagabond because of a system that has failed. Join a political party and be uncomfortable for the party. Demand the rights of the people, nature and immigrants.
There are many ways to better working conditions. Encouragement and constructive criticism from management is in any case better than excitement and stress.
But good working conditions is also connected with a high social security fund which captures pretty much all the unemployed and a well-measured and legally secure sickness allowance and sickness allowance. The Alliance government 2006-2014 knew this. They knew that when they lowered social insurance and contributions (through changed calculation bases, sickness benefit was also lowered and out-of-insurance was introduced into the system) this would depress people's reservation salary. It is the lowest salary people can think of when looking for a new job. But a minimal and precarious welfare also means that many are likely to accept unhealthy workplaces for too long with dire consequences for them and society.
So to help jobseekers and the sick back to health and a healthy working life and to give those who are burnt out physically or mentally from their hard work a decent sickness allowance high enough not to make them pauper pensioners at 65, we cannot afford that. But to create a class of over a hundred thousand rentiers and to re-introduce tax privileges for old castles and manors. We can afford that. We can afford to practically restore the nobility but not to take care of our unemployed, sick and worn out.
At the same time, societies do w/ large wealth gaps that everyone, even the very richest, feel mentally and physically worse and that even the very richest have a shortened lifespan. So we can destroy the ship for everyone but not give our vulnerable people reasonable conditions in working life. Good work!
It is false myths who say we can't afford welfare. Dismantling our working conditions to maximize the owner's right to return is one unscientific idea.
The red-greens have managed to achieve some improvements, but significantly less than if the people had voted to give them a majority of the votes in the Riksdag.
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